A Fake Familiar
by Paragon of Awesomeness
Summary: Rias Gremory was enjoying a normal day living her double life as a high school beauty and a Devil, when three marks appear on her hand. After discovering that these marks are designed for the purpose of contracting a powerful familiar, she eagerly goes through with the ritual she learns. What she summons though, is a kind of familiar that not even a Devil could ever have imagined.
1. Chapter 1: The Summoning

**The following is a fan-based story. High School DxD is owned by Fujimi Shobo, TNK, Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Funimation, Hiroji Mishima, Miyama-Zero, and Ichei Ishibumi, while Fate/Stay Night is owned by Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyopop, Hanabee, Aniplex of America, MVM Films, Ufotable, and Type-Moon. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 1: The Summoning**

Rias Gremory was, to put it simply, bewildered.

Twelve days ago, her life had been perfectly normal. Well, as normal as things could get for a young, beautiful and – if she may say so – incredibly sexy female Devil living a double life as a simple high school student could get. Oh yes, and that same young and beautiful Devil also just so happened to be the younger sister of the strongest Devil in history. All in all, an average day.

But then just as school had ended and she and her peerage had gathered in the old school building for "club activities," she'd suddenly felt a burning pain in her left hand, and a minute later a mark bearing great resemblance to the Gremory crest, divided into three sections, appeared on it.

Confused and just a little bit frightened by this sudden phenomenon, she and her Queen, Akeno, had immediately set about determining the reason for this mark appearing on her body the way it had, as well as what it might mean. They had quickly been able to find out that each section of the mark contained magic, and a rather astounding amount of it, but it was dormant and no matter what Rias tried she was unable to awaken it.

Eventually, after three days without any progress, she had reluctantly set aside her monumental pride, and sent a message to her mother, Venelana, to give to her father, explaining the situation and asking for his help. She figured that since the mysterious mark was shaped like the Gremory family crest, it would make sense that the lord of House Gremory might know something about it.

As they waited for her parents' reply, Rias and the rest of her peerage had been more than a little surprised when instead of sending a message, her overprotective father teleported right into the ORC's club room not even ten minutes later along with her overprotective brother, and they both immediately began bombarding Rias with questions as to who or what had "violated her body."

Although in hindsight, Rias realized that she really should have seen that coming.

After her father and older brother _finally_ calmed down, thanks in no small part to Grayfia and Venelana pulling none-to-softly on their respective husband's cheek, her father had, after several minutes of examining the mark personally, determined that the magic within had something to do with the sort of contract made with a familiar. When Rias asked what type, all he was able to tell her was that it must be an extremely powerful kind of familiar. After all, why else would so much magic be needed just to secure the contract?

And so with this information in mind, it had been with no small amount of anticipation that when the next full moon came, Rias had instantly teleported to the Familiar Forest with her peerage in tow

_I can't wait to see what kind of familiar I'll get!_ Rias thought gleefully. _Just wait until I show it to Sona. Oh, I am going to lord this over her every chance I get. Ha! Nothing she has will be able to compare to what I'll have by the end of tonight!_

When they encountered the Familiar Master Zatouji and requested his help though, Rias was in for yet another surprise.

For starters, when Rias showed him the mark, the man had actually fainted on the spot. And when Akeno had brought him out of it via some improvised defibrillation with her lightning powers, he had immediately started rambling about the mark and screaming about how it was "only a story."

When he finally started talking sense, Zatouji had taken the young group of devils to his home and gone digging though a mountain of ancient-looking books and scrolls until he emerged with two simple sheets of paper that he handed to Rias; one was a picture of a magic circle, but of a design that she had never seen before; the other one had some sort of incantation written on it.

The Familiar Master then informed Rias that from what little he could remember, unlike most familiars that were simply drawn to their intended masters after exploring the forest, Rias would actually have to summon this one, and to do that she would need to draw the circle exactly as depicted on the first sheet of paper in liquid platinum with a six foot diameter, and then recite the incantation written on the second sheet. He also told Rias that in order to ensure that the familiar she summoned would be as powerful as possible, she should perform the ritual in a location where the magical energy was naturally strong, and at the time of day when her own magic was also at its strongest.

Rias thanked the Familiar Master for the information, but before she left she asked him what kind of familiar she would summon. The answer he gave was… not what she had expected.

"I'm afraid I simply don't know, Lady Rias. The practice of contracting familiars is almost as old as magic itself, but until now, the stories about familiars that involve marks like the one you now bear have always been just that. The fact of the matter is I have absolutely no idea what kind of familiar you will summon, as no one in history ever has."

* * *

After arriving back at the clubhouse, it had taken Akeno several hours to acquire the platinum needed to draw the circle, while Rias memorized the aria. Then after classes ended the next day, they cleared out the room in which they always met after school, and set about clearing out the Occult Research Club's clubroom so they could draw the circle depicted on the paper they had been given, with a perfect diameter of six feet.

Despite its rather plain appearance, Kuoh Academy was actually built right on top of a large number of ley lines, making the old schoolhouse the ideal place for the summoning ritual. After that, it was simply a matter of waiting; after all, Rias was a Devil, and Devils were creatures of the night by their very nature. So as midnight finally came around, the young heiress of the House of Gremory raised her left hand, and began the incantation.

"_For the element silver and iron, the foundation stone and the Archduke of Pacts, and for my great master, Schweinorg._

_Raise a wall against the wind and close the gate of four directions._

_Come forth from the Crown and follow the forked road leading to the Kingdom._"

Nothing happened, but Rias continued, undeterred. They'd followed all of the Familiar Master's instructions perfectly. She knew that this would work.

"_Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill._

_Repeat five times, but when each is filled, destroy it._"

The circle began to faintly glow blue. Rias felt the excitement that had been building up in her for days begin to rise, but she managed to ignore it and continue reciting the aria, lest she screw up the ritual. And as she kept speaking, the circle grew brighter and brighter.

"_Heed my words._

_My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny._

_If you abide by this feeling, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning._

_I hereby swear, that I shall be all the good in the world,_

_That I shall defeat, all evil in the world._"

By this point the amount of raw mana that had gathered in the circle was staggering to behold, and was glowing so brightly that the rest of her peerage had shielded their eyes or looked away, and it also generated a fierce wind. But Rias forced herself to finish as she stared at the center of the circle and shouted the final line.

"_Seven heavens clad in the great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding, Guardian of Scales!_"

The moment the final syllable left her lips, all the power that had been accumulating mere meters in front of her condensed into a single spot, shining more brightly than the sun and producing a small shockwave that made even Rias flinch instinctively.

As Rias and the rest of her peerage coughed from the cloud of dust that had been kicked up, a voice, clear, strong, and distinctly masculine, sounded in front of her.

"Well well, what have we here? It seems that I've been summoned by a peculiar little Master."

Rias' eyes widened as the words reached her ears, and when she looked back to the summoning circle, she saw a humanoid figure through the dust.

_Tall._

That was the first word that came to mind as she laid eyes on the newcomer for the first time. And he was tall. Rias herself stood at a reasonable height of 5'8" but the man in front of her had to be at least 6'1".

As the dust settled, the young devil was able to get a better view of this man, and she found him to have an appearance that was exotic, to say the least.

Tan skin, white hair, eyes the colour of steel, and a figure that seemed to be made up entirely of corded muscle. He wore black form-fitting armour on his chest that seemed to actually show off his abs even though it was covering them, along with a red shroud that Rias could tell had holy properties. And his face… it had to be one of the most handsome faces she'd ever seen in her life.

_Yes, calling his appearance anything less than exotic would be an insult._ Rias thought with a tiny blush. _Wait, he said he'd been summoned, does that mean…_

Looking the man in the eye, Rias stepped forward. "So, since you appeared inside the summoning circle, I take it that you are my new familiar?"

The man responded by raising an eyebrow quizzically, and then smirked. "I suppose if you were to put it crudely, then yes, I am a familiar. I assume then that you are my Master?"

"Indeed I am, but just what do you mean by 'crudely'?" Rias demanded with a furrowed brow.

"What you say is true, Master: I am a familiar of sorts, and I am also contracted to you." the man stated as though he were explaining something simple to someone who should already know about it, but didn't. "But based on how you greeted me, it's clear you don't realize just what kind of familiar I am."

"Enlighten me then."

At this, the man nodded respectfully, though Rias was certain she saw him smirk again during the few seconds his face was down. "As you wish, Master. Understand though that this conversation will not be a short one, so I suggest that you sit down. The others as well if they intend to stay and listen."

Taking his advice, the members of the Occult Research Club put the carpets and furniture back where it had been before they drew the summoning circle and took their respective seats, with Rias at her desk, Kiba and Akeno seated on the couch to her left, and Koneko sitting on the couch to her right. Rias' new familiar remained standing in the center of the room across from Rias, his attention primarily focused on the young devil who had summoned him, and began his explanation.

"As I am sure you are already aware, Master, normal familiars are various animals or mythical creatures that are magically bound to serve the one they are contracted to. While these creatures often vary in terms of strength as well as the types of services they can provide – be it spying, carrying messages or assisting in combat – one thing that they all have in common is that they are weaker than the person they are contracted to. This is because no matter how strong a being may be, they cannot bind a familiar to them if it is stronger than they themselves are, and attempting to do so is akin to suicide."

Rias nodded in agreement, and gestured for him to continue.

"However Master, every rule has its exceptions, and with the right tools and preparations this can be done. In fact you've already done it."

Wide eyes were tonight's theme for the Occult Research Club as the idea that their Buchou had actually contracted a familiar that was stronger than she was crossed their minds. But before anyone had a chance to say something, the strange man announced "Congratulations are in order, Master. You have successfully summoned a Servant."

"Servant? What do you mean by that?" Akeno asked, speaking for the first time since the summoning ritual had begun.

"Well, if I had to put it into a single sentence, you could say that 'Servant' is the title given to human familiars, which just so happen to be the most powerful type of familiars. In more detailed terms though, I am a Heroic Spirit; a hero from another time who has become so famous and accomplished deeds so legendary, that after my death I ascended to a level of existence that borders on that of the divine. Rather than my soul going into the cycle of reincarnation, it instead ascended to the Throne of Heroes.

"The summoning ritual you just performed was one intended to call forth a Heroic Spirit's soul with the intent of making it your familiar. However one of the problems with this is that calling the soul of even a normal human back from the clutches of death, let alone that of a Heroic Spirit, is True Magic. To compensate for the sheer impossibility of this, instead of trying to summon the entire Heroic Spirit, the ritual gathers as much of the Heroic Spirit's power as it can, which is then placed in a container modeled after the very body that the Heroic Spirit had during the prime of their life, and that container is known as a Servant."

Rias couldn't believe what she was hearing. _I… I summoned a hero from another age, and I contracted him as my familiar? …YES! Suck it Sona! Nothing she has can top this! NOTHING!_

It took every ounce of self control Rias had to not jump on top of her desk and start cheering, and even then she was unable to stop a smile from pulling at her cheeks or prevent her eyes from glinting greedily.

If her new familiar _No, Servant_ saw her reaction, he didn't comment on it, and continued his explanation.

"Now, since the container can only hold a fraction of the Heroic Spirit's power, it makes sense that the Master would want to guarantee that certain elements of their power made it in that they would want in their Servant, would it not? This is where the Servant classes come into play, of which there are a total of seven; Archer, the Servant of the Bow; Saber, the Servant of the Sword; Lancer, the Servant of the Spear; Rider, the Servant of the Mount; Caster, the Servant of the Spell; Assassin, the Servant of Murder; and Berserker, the Servant of Madness. I have been summoned as a Servant of the Archer class, which typically specializes in long-range combat and independent operations."

"I see," Rias murmured half to herself. She wondered what kind of specializations the other classes might have, and made a mental note to ask him about them some other time. For now though her Servant already had more than enough to explain to make sure his Master understood the situation she was in, and besides, there was another question she wanted to ask. "So tell me, which Heroic Spirit are you? I like to know my servants, Heroic and otherwise."

The Servant grimaced briefly as if remembering something unpleasant before he replied. "I apologise, Master, but despite the respect I have for your station I'm afraid I must decline giving you my name, as I have forsaken it. I won't give you the details, but my legend is not a pleasant one; the deeds I performed during my life were heroic in nature and saved countless lives, but it ended in a manner that I detest more than I can describe with words. And to add insult to injury, it was an end brought about by my own foolishness, so I have no one to blame but myself. It is for those reasons that I request that so long as I am your Servant, you refer to me simply as Archer, the name of my class."

The members of the Occult Research Club gave the Heroic Spirit a collective look of sympathy at the description of his own story. It had been as brief as it was vague, but still detailed enough to give them a bit of an idea of what his life must have been like.

"Very well Archer," Rias said. "I will respect your decision, as will the rest of my peerage."

The newly christened Archer bowed his head in thanks. "Very good Master. Now, moving on to a different matter… Normally I wouldn't ask this, but since you were unaware that you were summoning a Servant, I have to do so: do you realize the significance of what you bear on your left hand?"

Looking at her left hand, the Gremory heiress realized that the strange mark that had appeared on her left hand and set this whole thing in motion, rather than being used up in the ritual to summon Archer, was actually still there. But while before it had been a dull colour, like that of dried blood, it was now a vibrant crimson, much like her hair. "You're talking about this mark?" Rias asked, holding up her hand for Archer to see.

The Servant nodded in confirmation. "Yes. That mark is proof of the pact that you and I share, Master. And more importantly, they signify your status as the Master of said pact. I already mentioned that that in the end, Servants are basically extremely powerful familiars, ones that are almost always many times stronger than their Master. Therefore it shouldn't come as that big of a surprise that it is not unheard of for a Servant to kill their Master if they ever grow displeased with them."

At these words, Koneko tensed up as she glared at Archer and fiercely declared "If you ever try to hurt Buchou, I'll kill you."

"Ara ara," Akeno said in a manner that Rias was all too familiar with. "Look at you, Koneko-chan, so eager to defend your beloved Buchou. How adorable." Despite the teasing manner in which she spoke though, Rias could feel Akeno gathering her power, and Kiba's hand was drifting toward his sword.

Raising her hand, the President of the Occult Research Club intervened before things had a chance to escalate. "There's no need for hostilities, everyone. Archer is merely informing us all of the details regarding my pact with him. Now Archer, from the way you were phrasing your words, I'm guessing that this mark on my left hand is some sort of trump card to ensure my authority?"

Archer nodded approvingly. "Very astute of you, Master. Those marks are called Command Seals, and they are tools to help guarantee the authority of the Master over their Servant. By invoking the Command Seals, a Master is able to compel their Servant's obedience a grand total of three times. By using the Command Seals, you could order me to do just about anything, and I would carry out that order immediately whether I wanted to or not. In fact if you felt like it, you could order me to commit suicide right here and now, and there would be nothing I could do once the command was given."

The Master gasped at the very thought of giving her Servant such a cruel and horrific order, and looked at the Command Seals on her hand with newfound fear; fear of what a less merciful Master might use them for. It was true that in Devil society, a King held a considerable amount of authority over the members of their peerage, but these Command Seals… they went far beyond that.

"Archer, I swear on my honour as a Gremory and as your Master, I will never use a Command Seal on you!"

To her surprise, Archer just chuckled. "While I appreciate the thought, there's no need for such extremes, Master. And I wouldn't go disregarding the power of the Command Seals if I were you, as they do have their uses. For example, I am incapable of any kind of teleportation. But if you used a Command Seal ordering me to go to a specific location immediately, the laws of time and space themselves would bend to send me to said location, no matter how far away I was. In fact I could probably even teleport a small group along with me if you ordered it. Also, if you used one ordering me to carry out a certain task, such as "destroy the enemy in front of you" and I agreed with and supported your intentions, every aspect of my power would be greatly increased as I fulfilled that order."

"Well that's certainly interesting, and it also seems also pretty handy for when you're in a pinch." Kiba noted. "But that can't be all there is to it, there has to be some sort of catch."

"Indeed there is." Archer confirmed. "While the Command Seals are the crystallization of magic powerful enough to compel even a Heroic Spirit, they only contain so much power. If my Master were to use one ordering me to completely obey her every command, the Command Seal's power would be spread out accordingly, drastically decreasing its effectiveness. At most I would probably feel a sort of compulsion to obey her, like a little voice in my head nagging me to agree with her and do what she says. It would be annoying, but ultimately I could ignore it." Turning back to his Master, Archer went on to advise her that if Rias ever did feel the need to use her Seals, she should keep in mind to avoid giving orders that were vague or broad.

"As for the most important 'catch' as you put it," he said, turning back to Kiba, "that is something that I believe I already mentioned: my Master has three Command Seals, no more, no less. And if she uses up all three, our contract disappears with them."

"In that case, I'll do my very best to make sure I don't ever have to use them." Even though Rias said these words with a smile, she had a serious look in her eyes. A look that told Archer that she was starting to truly understand what it meant to be a Master, and also that unless the situation was dire, she wouldn't even consider using those Seals, as she now realized how precious they were.

"Glad to hear it. Now Master," the Servant said, changing topics, "unless you have any more questions, I would like to ask a few of my own."

"I can't think of one at the moment. Does anyone else have any?" The other devils in the room answered no. "In that case, go right ahead, Archer."

"Right. Well to start, would I be correct in assuming that none of you are human?" Archer asked, looking at all of them as though he was assessing them.

"You are correct, Archer. We are all Devils."

This time it was Archer's turn to be surprised. "Devils?" he muttered with raised eyebrows, though the shock quickly went away as the Servant adapted to his situation. "Well that's a new one. I've never had a Devil for a Master before, or any sort of non-human for that matter. Although that would explain the massive amount of prana I can feel coming from you."

His Master smirked. "But of course, I am a Gremory after all."

Archer blinked. "Wait, Gremory? As in the Duke of Hell who commands twenty six legions of demons, and has absolute knowledge of all treasures, past, present, and future? The same Gremory who is also known for acquiring the love of many women, be they young or old, but he mostly goes after maidens?"

"The very same. Unfortunately though the original Lord Gremory that you speak of died thousands of years ago in the Great War along with the vast majority of his servants." Rias explained. "However I am descended from him."

Akeno giggled. "Ara ara. You sure know your history, Archer-kun."

"The Throne of Heroes is directly connected to part of the Akashic Records, and every Heroic Spirit has a least a basic understanding of all the legends recorded within them." Archer replied, briefly breaking eye contact with his Master to speak to Akeno. "Now if I may ask, what are you all doing here in the human world? I was under the impression that your kind had, for the most part, left the realm of mortals after the Age of the Gods ended, along with all the other creatures of legend."

Rias blinked. "Ended? Left? What are you talking about Archer? I'll admit, many of the old powers that once ruled the human world have withdrawn for the most part, but we devils and all the other magical races still come here rather frequently. As for why we do, it may be to catch up on everyday human life so we can blend in, do business with humans who request our services, or even just take a vacation."

The confusion that Archer was feeling was now greater than ever, along with a sense of increasing shock. "But that can't be… the Age of the Gods was brought to an end by Gilgamesh more than four thousand years ago, and even though many new ones were born afterward, they all died by the time the Roman Empire collapsed. This has been confirmed by all three branches of the Mages Association and the Holy Church for centuries!" _Wait… Unless…_ "Master," the Heroic Spirit cautiously asked, "are you familiar with the entities Gaia and Alaya?"

Rias tilted her head to the side, curious as to why her Servant would suddenly ask that. "Gaia? You mean from the Greek legends? Well I've heard about her of course, but I can't say I've ever met her. As for the second one, Alaya, I've never so much as heard that name in my life."

As Archer's eyes widened even further, Rias confusion was replaced with worry. "Archer? What's wrong?"

"It… it seems I was mistaken about a few things, Master." the Servant began. "Not only am I from another time, but if my suspicions are correct, I am also from another world."

The ORC was stunned as these words left the Servant's lips, but in just a few seconds Akeno managed to cover up her surprise with amusement. "Ara ara, this is certainly a surprise. Archer-kun is really an alien!" Everyone else in the room either sighed or rolled their eyes at this.

"To clarify," Archer muttered with his left eyebrow giving a single twitch, "at the moment it seems that this plane of existence which you all live in is a world parallel to my own, but one in which the Age of the Gods never came to an end, or at the very least that end has not yet come, and creatures such as devils like yourselves still walk the earth.

"And that's just one of the differences." the Servant of the Bow pointed out, mentally groaning as he felt the number of questions he had suddenly multiply.

* * *

After a _very_ long discussion, the Servant now had at least a basic understanding of this strange new world he'd been thrown into.

One of the most important facts was that human society and history in this world was somehow perfectly identical to that of his world. As far as anyone could tell, the only differences were of the mythic variety, namely that gods, dragons, Angels, Devils, and many other Phantasmal Species were still alive and present in the world. Fortunately Archer also found that this world also had all the same legends, so at least his knowledge of all the different legends about these creatures could still prove to be useful to him.

The Heroic Spirit was also pleasantly surprised to discover that the Devils of this world had – while not necessarily good – much less malevolent intentions toward humans than the legends about them described, at least according to his Master and her peerage.

His Master had confessed that, much to her shame, before the Great War Devils were indeed the monsters that stole the souls of humans just as the Bible proclaimed. After the war though, the Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels had all suffered casualties that were beyond staggering, in fact they'd all been on the brink of extinction. So in order to keep themselves alive, these three races had been forced to call a ceasefire of sorts, and turn to humans and start recruiting those they found to be both willing and worthy into their own ranks as a way to replenish their numbers. And in order to improve their "publicity" the rulers of Hell changed their policy regarding treatment of mortals to a much more mutually beneficial one.

"Of course, that didn't exactly go over very well with some of the more, shall we say, traditional Devils, and we went through a nasty civil war that eventually resulted in the old faction being driven out along with all four Satans, and my older brother Sirzechs taking the mantle of Lucifer."

"Hmm, this is quite a lot to take in." Archer murmured as he mulled numerous facts over in his head. "Not only do I find myself in a completely new world, I even find myself contracted to a Devil, only to discover that apparently they have cast aside many of their more evil habits.

"In the end though, all that really matters is that I am a Servant that has been summoned, and you are my Master. Additionally, provided that everything that you have told me so far about this world is true, at present time I see no reason why I would dislike being your Servant."

"I am glad to hear it." Rias replied, pleased that her new Servant had no issues with her being a Devil, even though he was a hero.

"Now then Master, there is one final bit of business we must take care of. I must ask you to stand for this part." Archer said as he approached the Gremory heiress. She quickly complied with his request though, and a minute later the two were standing a meter apart from one another, which was followed by Archer placing his fist over his heart as he solemnly bowed his head.

"By your summons, I have come. From this moment forth, your fate is my fate. My victory is your victory. Your desire is my purpose. This is the vow offered by the Servant Archer, who pledges to always remain by your side, my Master."

Rias was momentarily stunned by the formality that her Servant was suddenly showing before her own self-discipline reasserted itself as she gracefully gave her response. "I accept your pledge and your vow, Archer. By my name as Rias of the House of Gremory, I swear on my honour that I will strive to be a Master worthy of such a fine Servant." As she finished speaking, Rias realized that during the entire time she'd spoken with him, she had never actually told Archer her given name until just now.

"And with that, the pact is sealed." Archer declared as he straightened his back. "Now unless there is anything else, I think it is time we all retired for the night. I take it you all have school after all, and it would be remiss of you to miss your classes simply because you were busy conversing with a Heroic Spirit all night." he said in his familiar confident and amused tone.

Koneko narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "How do you know we have school?"

"Because you're all wearing school uniforms?" Archer guessed rhetorically with a raised eyebrow.

"No, Koneko-chan's right. Even if your legend took place relatively recently in your world's history, I doubt your society had public schools with regular uniforms, Archer." Kiba pointed out.

"A fair point." Archer admitted. "However, even if this is a different plane of existence, we've been able to establish that the current human civilization of this world is identical to that of my own. As for how I know about this era's culture and customs, and the fact that you all have school, this is not the first time I have been summoned to the modern world."

"Ara ara, well isn't that interesting?"

"Enough," Rias said authoritatively but not unkindly. "Archer is right: We all have our classes tomorrow, and it will reflect poorly on us if we neglect our responsibilities as students of Kuoh Academy because we were all too tired from staying up late." Not to mention that Sona would never let Rias hear the end of it if she was tardy. "Go home and get a good night's sleep. We'll meet back here tomorrow after class. Archer, you can come with me to my house."

With their President calling it a night, the members of the Occult Research Club said their goodbyes, and Rias Gremory activated a teleportation circle to her home beneath her feet, and activated it once Archer stepped in.

* * *

The Master and Servant duo emerged from the second teleportation circle that had appeared in the former's bedroom, which contained a large, western-style bed with four posts. Rias approached her bed, but stopped and looked back at her Servant.

"Archer, could I ask a favour of you?"

"You don't need to bother with such niceties when addressing me, Master." the Servant stated. "What do you require?"

"Well you see, the thing is…" Rias attempted to articulate, but she couldn't prevent an embarrassed flush from appearing on her cheeks at what she was about to ask. Dammit, it wasn't like her to get flustered like this, but Rias just couldn't help herself. Why did her Servant have to be so damn _handsome_? "I tend to get a little grabby when I sleep, and so I was wondering… if you wouldn't mind…" she forced herself to blurt out the rest. "If you wouldn't mind sleeping in my bed with me tonight!"

And so the Servant of the Bow received yet another surprise this night. "You… want to use me as a body pillow, Master?"

The blush on his Master's cheeks grew, and she imperiously turned her head away with her nose in the air. "As I said, I like to hold something while I'm asleep, and you… Call it women's intuition, but I just get the feeling that you're good at cuddling. It's been a rather long night and I simply want to be able enjoy a pleasant night's rest, and it'll be better with you holding me. That's really all there is to it."

Archer blinked three times as he stared at her before giving an amused snort, which earned him a fierce glare.

"My apologies, Master." Archer quickly said as he recomposed himself. He knew better than to make fun of a woman when she was being sincere and opening herself up to him. Doing so only resulted in pain on both sides – emotionally for the woman, and physically for the man. "And as for your request, I'm happy to offer you whatever comforts you wish tonight."

"Good." the Master replied as she started undressing, only for her Servant to speak up again.

"Master, would you like me to leave the room while you change?"

"There's not really any point." she shrugged. "I can't sleep unless I'm naked, so you're going to see everything anyway. And in case the thought crossed your mind, you don't have to worry about feeling like some sort of pedophile; I'm eighteen. Now could you please remove that holy shroud you're wearing? I'm unable touch anything that has ties to God without it hurting me in some way. And take off that armour too, it isn't suitable for… for sleeping."

"I see…" _It seems my Master is quite the little pervert._ Oh well, it was far from the first time he'd seen a naked woman or slept in the same bed as one. It was hardly a novel experience for him, even if his current Master was easily one of the most… _developed_ women he'd encountered in his existence.

As Rias stripped off the last of her clothes, she felt a small disturbance of magic come from Archer, and when she looked back at her Servant she saw that the articles of clothing she had just mentioned, as well as Archer's boots, had vanished without a trace, and her Servant was now only clad in his black trousers. Rias' blush instantly returned full force as Archer's upper body was exposed to her. She took in the sight of his strong arms, his impressive abs, his muscular chest…

Any sense of attraction vanished the second her eyes fell on the large scar directly over her Servant's heart. _Is that the wound that took Archer's life?_ And that scar was only the first of many, in fact her Servant's body was littered with them; scars from stab wounds, slashes, claw-marks, bites, burns, puncture wounds, all faded into his tan skin to the point that they were barely visible to Rias even with the night vision that came with being a devil, but there nonetheless.

"Do my scars frighten you, Master?" Rias looked up at Archer, who had a gentle look in his eyes. "Or do you feel pity for me because of the sort of life I must have led in order to acquire them?" When Rias stayed silent, her Servant approached and laid a caring hand on her bare shoulder. "These scars are all ancient history to me, Master. There's no need to concern yourself over such a trivial matter."

_Trivial? He calls _this_ trivial?_ But even as the thought crossed her mind, Rias realized that "trivial" was what the subject of his scars actually was as far Archer was concerned. The scars littering the Heroic Spirit's body told the story of his life, and even though it was a story that Archer himself regretted to the point that he had cast aside his own name in order to distance himself from it, it didn't mean that he hadn't been able to come to terms with it in his own way. Besides, he had said it himself: he was her Servant. Whatever happened during his original life had nothing to do with the here and now, and as his Master she too needed to live up to that standard.

Rias reached up to remove Archer's hand from her shoulder and then took it in her own. "You are right, Archer. I apologize for my inappropriate behaviour just now. Let's go to bed."

Their talk finished for the night, the Servant lifted the bed's covers and slipped underneath them, and shortly after his Master did the same on the other side. The younger of the pair then felt one of the Servant's strong arms reach out to wrap itself around her waist and pull her closer to him, which was followed by his other arm going around her shoulders. As Rias gladly returned the embrace and laid her head on his shoulder, she focused on the feel of Archer's body and the feeling that Archer himself gave off; his strong muscles; his warmth; his gentle, protective touch. She experienced all these things and more, with one final thought occupying her mind before she drifted off to sleep.

_I was right. He is a good at cuddling._

* * *

**Servant: Archer**

**Identity: Unknown**

**Alias: Unknown**

**Master: Rias Gremory**

**Alignment: True Neutral**

**Strength: C+**

**Agility: B**

**Mana: A-**

**Endurance: B**

**Luck: D**

**Noble Phantasm: ?**

**Class Skills:**

**Independent Action: B**

**Magic Resistance: B**

**Personal Skills:**

**Eye of the Mind (True): B**

**Clairvoyance: C**

**Magecraft: C**

* * *

**You know, I really have to say, I'm amazed that (to my knowledge at least) no one has written a fic in which a Highschool DxD character makes a pact with a Servant as though they were a familiar yet. Hmm, I wonder if this will become a thing...**

**Now tell me, did this story pique your interest? Is my writing good? Do you want more? Please Favourite, Follow, and Review to let me know!**

**Oh yeah, and there's a poll on my profile with the following question:**

**Which do you think is the most powerful, Great Red, Primate Murder, or TYPE-Mercury?**


	2. Chapter 2: Acclimatizing

**Okay, umm, before anything else, can I just say how sorry I am for the long wait? Considering the amount of attention this story's been getting, it sure feels like a disservice to keep you all waiting in suspense for this long.**

**And speaking of the attention, WOW!**

**Over one hundred reviews, four hundred favourites, and nearly five hundred follows?! I knew that Fate/DxD crossovers were popular, but I never expected this! I only hope that going forward, I can deliver the kind of writing worthy of all this extraordinary praise. (Sigh) I kind of wish there was some way for me to profit from writing this story so I could do it full time. Oh, speaking of which…**

**Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own the TYPE-MOON and/or DxD franchises.**

**Okay now, onto the results of last chapter's poll:**

**Great Red got 62 out of 99 votes**

**TYPE-Mercury got 26 out of 99 votes**

**Primate Murder got 7 out of 99 votes**

**Well, it seems that most people think that Great Red is the strongest, but please do check out some of the reviews, as some of them do make interesting cases for each one of these juggernauts.**

**There will be another poll explained at the end of this chapter, as well as suggestions for new stories for me to write. But that's for later. Right now, on with Chapter Two!**

**The following is a fan-based story. High School DxD is owned by Fujimi Shobo, TNK, Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Funimation, Hiroji Mishima, Miyama-Zero, and Ichei Ishibumi, while Fate/Stay Night is owned by Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyopop, Hanabee, Aniplex of America, MVM Films, Ufotable, and Type-Moon. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 2: Acclimatizing**

As morning came and the sun lit up a Rias Gremory's bedroom, the young Devil woke up, only to bury her head back into Archer's chest, wanting to enjoy a few more minutes of rest.

"Mmmm…" the buxom redhead moaned pleasantly. Even though she'd only been able to get in four hours of rest, those four hours of being held by her new Servant had easily been some of the best sleep she'd gotten in weeks. She knew that she'd have to get up soon so she could get ready for school, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy a few more minutes of cuddle-time with her new Servant.

_Yes, that sounds like a very good idea._ Rias decided as she tightened her grip on Archer, who on a side note now seemed a lot cushier than she remembered him being.

"Master, it's time to wake up."

Rias suddenly became alert as Archer's voice sounded from behind her, his hand gently shaking her shoulder. Opening her eyes, the Devil saw that she wasn't cuddling with her Servant, but a pillow. As for the actual Archer, he was currently attempting to get his Master out of bed.

"Archer?" Rias looked over her shoulder at him with a confused face. "When… How did you-?"

"I slipped out of bed a short while ago to familiarize myself with the house and also to prepare your breakfast, but you seemed lonely so I substituted myself with a pillow until it was time for you to wake up." The Servant interrupted, answering her question. "I do apologize for disturbing your sleep, Master, but if you don't get up now you're definitely going to be late for school. Breakfast will be on the table in twenty minutes, so use that time to shower and get dressed. There's a clean uniform, folded and ready for you waiting on your desk."

The Master sat up as the Heroic Spirit turned around and left the room, astonished at how he had so easily taken stock of his new situation, and was even taking the initiative in her morning routine. Rias couldn't imagine what it was like to be a Servant, but she figured that it would have taken one at least a little while to adapt to having themselves be summoned from the… _What did he call it again? Ah yes, the Throne of Heroes,_ to the mortal plane – and one in a different world at that – and be bound to serve a Master he'd never met before and knew nothing about. Then again, maybe Archer's ability to adapt to bizarre scenarios like his current one so quickly had been one of the qualities that allowed him to become a Heroic Spirit in the first place, and he'd also mentioned being summoned as a Servant at least once before.

Shaking her head, the young Devil reminded herself that she could spend the rest of the day mulling these thoughts over, right now though she had to prepare for school. Getting herself fully out of bed, she made her way to the shower.

* * *

Archer hadn't been completely honest with his Master when he woke her up. While he did do exactly what he'd said, he'd neglected to mention that ever since discovering what his Master was, he had been more than a little suspicious of her, and just how honest she was being with him. Taking advantage of the time she spent asleep, he'd examined the entire house as thoroughly as he could with both his eyes and nose for anything that might suggest that his Master had lied about the way Devils treated humanity in this new world he' been summoned to, in which case, the pact he and his Master shared would be a very short-lived one…

But despite inspecting the entire property from top to bottom in the last three hours, the only thing that Archer's nose could pick up that fell within the bounds of the mystic world was his Master herself, and even after Structurally Analyzing everything – and he really did examined _everything_ – Archer didn't find a single thing that would indicate that his Master had lied about the nature of Devils, or even suggest that she might have malicious intentions towards anyone, human or otherwise.

There was no trophy room displaying the skulls of her victims, no swimming pools filled with blood, no torture chamber containing the screams of its victims still clinging to life and the decay of those who were not, no portal that was connected to the lowest depths of Hell – although that might be because his Master was able to teleport there all by herself at a moment's notice – not even a single grimoire about how to conduct a ritual in which one steals the soul of a sacrificial victim. The fact was, aside from its inhuman resident, there wasn't a single odd thing about this house.

…Although there was one thing that was rather peculiar: a large walk-in storeroom that was filled with over three dozen shelves, and packed tightly together on the shelves were row upon row of manga volumes, along with HD DVDs and Blu-rays for their corresponding anime, plus numerous figurines of their characters There was even another room next to it that was completely identical, except the shelves were only about a tenth full, and there was also an honest-to-Gaia figurine making kit neatly tucked away in the corner next to several cans containing different colours of paint as well as a paint gun.

When it came down to it, Archer could honestly say that he was astonished at how… ordinary the house was.

Well, except for all the manga merchandise, but even those weren't all that strange in and of themselves. He could probably find similar collections in houses all over Japan, if not the world.

Now that he thought about it, the Servant had to admit that he was actually more than a little disappointed. Make no mistake, he wasn't upset to find that his Master hadn't been lying and that she _wasn't_ harvesting the souls of gullible, corruptible humans, oh not at all. Rather, he was disappointed that he had been summoned by a Devil, a creature of myth and legend whose mere existence was leagues beyond anything most humans were able to achieve, only to find that her home didn't even have the most basic components of what could find in even the temporary dwelling of a magus back in his home dimension.

She didn't have a Temple.

She didn't have a workshop.

She didn't have a library.

She didn't have a single magical tome in the entire house.

Part of Archer reminded him that his Master wasn't human, she was a Devil. Hell was her natural home, so it might be the case that she did her training, research, and whatever else she did, down in the fiery depths of the underworld.

But even while keeping that in mind, the Servant of the Bow didn't feel like that was the case. In fact when he took into several things into account – that he'd been summoned in what seemed like a school clubroom, all the Devils present for his summoning had been wearing school uniforms, and he himself was even helping his Master get ready to go to school right this minute – it began to look more and more like he had been summoned by a high school student who just happened to be a Devil.

And was also a bit of an otaku.

_Dammit_, the Servant sighed_ maybe I'm just reading too much into things too early. It's been less than eight hours since I even materialized and I'm already debating whether or not I should kill my Master when I barely know anything about her. It's too soon to come to an accurate conclusion about this world or my new Master. As far as I can tell though, she's been honest with me and hasn't done anything to betray my trust. For now I'll just try a wait-and-see approach, and stay true to my word to serve and protect her so long as she proves worthy of it._

His mind made up for the time being, Archer stepped into the kitchen and began the sacred task of preparing his Master's morning meal. _Hmm, I wonder what kind of breakfast I should make?_ He thought about this for a full second before the answer came to him; it was so obvious he could have smacked himself! With the exception of the bedrooms, everything in the house – the walls and floors, the kitchen, living room, bathroom, even the garden – was all structured and decorated in the traditional Japanese fashion.

Knowing what kind of breakfast to make for his Master now, Archer started taking out the necessary ingredients and utensils, and got to work.

* * *

Rias had just finished getting changed into her school uniform and opened the door to leave her room, when an abundance of mouth-watering aromas hit her square in the face. When the devil realized that the various scents were coming from the kitchen where her Servant was making breakfast, she made her way to that part of the house just a _little_ bit more quickly than she usually did.

Rias walked into the house's dining area just in time to see her Servant lay out her chopsticks on the table next to her plate before stepping back and allowing her to take in the wondrous sight before her.

The food… for a second Rias could have sworn it was _sparkling_. It smelled delicious, more delicious than anything she'd smelled in her life. Not even the meals prepared by her family's personal chefs had ever smelled this good!

"Ah, Master," Archer's voice snapped Rias out of her trance and drew her attention over to him, "perfect timing, I just finished preparing your meal. I do hope you enjoy it."

_If this tastes even a tenth as good as it smells, I most certainly will._ Rias thought as the thanked Archer for the food and knelt down on the cushion to eat with no small amount of enthusiasm, taking in the sight of the meal set before her. In terms of selection, it was just like any other Japanese breakfast, with miso soup, rolled omelette, broiled fish, and fermented soybeans, with some steamed rice waiting in a cooker off to the side.

Rias respectfully put her hands together and said "Itadakimasu." before eagerly filled her plate with fish and several bits of rolled up omelette, and filled her bowl with rice before mixing in some soybeans, as was the traditional style, and then taking her first bite of omelette.

It was everything she dreamed of and more.

Her mouth simply burst with flavour, and Rias couldn't help holding her spare hand up against her blushing cheek as she moaned in utter bliss.

The Gremory heir proceeded to wolf down everything that was on her plate, as well as her second and third servings, in a manner that left her feeling rather embarrassed after she finally swallowed the last bite. She was the heir to the House of Gremory and prided herself on always acting in a manner befitting her noble ancestry, and yet the grace and etiquette that had been engrained within her since she was old enough to walk had crumbled upon tasting the wonderful breakfast that Archer had prepared for her.

Daintily wiping her mouth with her napkin in an attempt to salvage some of her dignity, Rias glanced over at her Servant to find the Heroic Spirit leaning back against the counter with his arms crossed, looking rather pleased with himself, causing the Devil to narrow her eyes slightly in annoyance even as more blood flowed to her cheeks. While Rias didn't really blame Archer for taking what was obviously well-earned pride in his amazing skills as a chef, she certainly could have done without that damn smirk of his.

Instead of verbally expressing her frustrations though, the Gremory heir rose to her feet and turned to face the Servant with a polite smile. "Thank you for the food, Archer. It was truly delicious, and I hope I will be able to enjoy such wonderful meals again soon and often."

Archer simply shrugged. "If that's what my Master wants, then I suppose I have no choice but to comply. Speaking of which…" He then reached for something on the counter behind his back, and when he brought his arm back out again it has holding out a wrapped up bento for Rias to take. "Here is your lunch for the day, Master."

Eyes shining briefly at the prospect of eating more of Archer's amazing food, Rias gladly took the offered bento into her hands and gave Archer her thanks before heading back to her room to grab her school bag and then slipping on her shoes as she prepared to leave, but not before saying goodbye to the newest resident of her home. "Goodbye Archer, I'll be back to bring you to the room where me and my peerage meets after school's over. In the meantime, feel free to make yourself at home." But as she moved to head out the door, she felt the Servant's hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "Archer?"

The Servant had a stern look in his eyes. "Master, you cannot mean to say that you wish to simply leave me here with nothing to do while you go out. As your Servant, I am obligated to remain at your side so I can protect you."

Taking a deep breath, Rias replied "Archer, while I appreciate your concern, you must realize that since I'm going to school, I can't exactly take you with me."

The Servant blinked before realization dawned in his eyes and he moved his hand from his Master's shoulder to his chin, the other one coming up to cup the elbow. "Ah, I see. Apologies, Master, I forgot that you'd never even heard of Servants prior to summoning me, and I neglected to mention that part earlier."

"What part?"

"Servants have the ability to enter an astral state, also known as our spirit form. In this state, we are completely invisible to anyone except for our Master, as well as other Servants. We also use much less prana when in this state, which in turn makes us far more difficult to detect, although those who are attuned deeply enough to the mystic world may still be able to sense us."

The Gremory heir blinked at Archer concluded his explanation. "So Master, now that you know about that little ability of mine, may I accompany you to your school in my spirit form?"

_These Servants are just full of surprises._ Rias thought in amazement, though on the outside she kept her cool and replied "Yes Archer, I would be delighted if you did."

"Thank you. Now, unless there is anything else, I believe it's time to go."

* * *

The Master and Servant walked to the former's school in silence, though as they walked through Kuoh Academy's gateway and set foot on the school grounds, the other students who were still milling about all stopped whatever they were doing in favour of staring at Rias in complete admiration as soon as they noticed her. While none of them seemed to have the courage to actually talk to Rias, Archer could easily hear the numerous comments they made about his Master. A few of them were talking most enthusiastically about her vibrant red hair, others commented on her beautiful face, a lot of the girls talked about her intelligence or athletic ability, with many of them also referring to her as "Onee-sama."

And of course, there were quite a few groups of boys in the area who were gawking at his Master's breasts, some shamelessly so. Others at least attempted to make it seem like they were looking at her face, but even if he hadn't had his C ranked Clairvoyance, Archer could clearly see their eyes dropping back down to her chest.

Although to be completely fair, Archer couldn't hold it entirely against them; his Master was a young woman, _No,_ _Devil_, of exceptional beauty, and had a body that just about anyone attracted to the female gender would find desirable. As for the boys' – as well as some girls – habit of almost constantly staring at her breasts… as much as the Servant hated to admit it, it was to be expected given how his Master's enormous jugs bounced every single time she took a step or moved her upper body. Honestly, how by all the mysteries and secrets contained within the Akashic Records was that even possible? He knew for a fact that his Master was wearing a bra – he distinctly remembered laying one out for her along with her uniform, and he'd even structurally analyzed her clothes during the walk here just to confirm that she had it on! Twice!

Making a mental note that he might need to take his Master out shopping for some proper underwear when they had the time, the Servant decided to address her as they entered the school's main building and made their way to Rias' homeroom. _'You seem to be something of a celebrity here, Master.'_

Rias flinched as she heard Archer's voice sound from within her head, and her eyes shifted to where she saw her Servant, invisible to all but her, casually walking beside her. "Archer?" She asked while keeping her voice down to a whisper.

'_Ah yes, I forgot to mention this as well. Due to the pact that exists between us as Servant and Master, you and I are able to communicate with one another telepathically regardless of the distance between us.'_

"Well that's certainly interesting," the Gremory heir muttered while doing her best to make it look like she wasn't talking to thin air as she entered her homeroom and sat down at her seat. "But how do I do it?"

'_Simply look within yourself and search for the part that you feel is most closely linked to me. Focus on that connection, and I will be able to hear your words, spoken or not, just as you are able to hear mine.'_

As the five-minute morning homeroom meeting that took place daily went by, Rias took a deep breath and did as her Servant advised. Sure enough, she soon found what he'd said to look for. It was small, like only a few microscopic cells, but it still felt like an integral part of her very being, and she could also feel what she could only describe as some kind of thread connecting her to something similar inside of Archer. Rias took that link, the pact between Archer and herself, and focused on it. _'Like this?'_

'_Exactly so, Master.'_

Rias shook her head the slightest amount and smiled to herself as homeroom ended and she got up from her chair and made her way to the room for today's first class: English. _Every time I learn more about Heroic Spirits, they always seem to find a way to become even more amazing._

'_Why thank you.'_ Rias started as Archer's voice once again surprised her._ 'And by the way, I heard that, Master.' _Even though she wasn't looking at him, Rias could _feel_ the smirk that was sprouting on the man's face as he spoke. But she refused to give any indication that this annoyed her in the slightest while she entered her classroom and sat down at her desk next to Akeno, who smiled at her and offered a quick greeting, which she returned before focusing back on her conversation with her Servant. _'So, are there any other abilities that you feel you should inform me about? Or is this the last surprise?'_

'_Hmm, well I can't feel any connection to the Holy Grail, but it does seem like there is a support system in place, so I guess we might as well see how closely it resembles the system I'm familiar with.'_

Now Rias was just confused. _'The Holy Grail? Why would a Christian artefact have anything to do with us, Archer?'_

'_Right, right, sorry. Allow me to explain as best I can. Back in my reality, the practice of summoning Servants first came about towards the end of the 18th century, when three families of mages – the Einzberns, the Tohsakas, and the Makiris, the last of which later became known as the Matous – worked together to summon a magical device known as the Holy Grail. Now to be clear, this Holy Grail wasn't the artefact that belonged to the God of the Bible's son, Jesus Christ, but was instead a wish-granting device that was said to be omnipotent. The ritual was designed with each of the families contributing essential components; the Einzberns provided the vessel that would become the Holy Grail; the Tohsakas provided land rich with high-quality ley lines filled with prana for the Grail to draw upon, and they also developed the ritual used to summon the Servants; while the Makiris created the Command Seals so as to keep said Servants under control.'_

'_Wait,' _Rias interrupted, confused about something. _'As fascinating as this story is, Archer, I'm confused as to why these families of mages would need to summon Heroic Spirits for a ritual involving a wish-granting device.'_

'_Ah, an excellent question. You see, the way that the Holy Grail granted wishes involved the vessel absorbing the souls of dead Servants. Once all the preparations had been completed, the seven Masters involved in the ritual would have all used their Command Seals to compel their Servants to kill themselves and subsequently be consumed by the Grail and be converted into pure mana to serve as fuel.'_

Hearing that caused Rias to clench her teeth as her eyes widened in silent fury. The idea that someone would go through the trouble of summoning and contracting a Heroic Spirit simply to kill it off as a sacrificial pawn for some obscure ritual disgusted her more than she could describe. It didn't matter to her what sort of wish she might have; she would never throw away the lives of one of her own servants! The young devil glared at the Command Seals on her left hand, shaped like the crest of her noble house, and the knowledge of its original purpose made her feel like she had something foul engraved on her hand. She now wanted more than ever to be rid of these crimson marks, but she couldn't; if that happened, she'd lose her pact with Archer. So as much as she despised the Seals, she'd gladly put up with them if it meant keeping her Servant. Taking several deep, calming breaths, she continued to listen to Archer, completely ignoring the teacher's words as he began the lesson, though she at least pretended to pay attention to class.

'_By this point the Grail would have absorbed enough power from the ley lines, which when combined with the Servants' souls it had consumed, would allow it to fulfill its main function, and return all the Heroic Spirits to the Throne of Heroes within the Akashic Records, creating a gateway to them in the process that humans would be able to travel through, at least in theory. This was precisely what the Tohsakas in particular wanted, as their wish was to reach Akasha, also known as the Root. The Root, Master, is nothing less than the Wellspring for All Creation, at least for my world, and contains perfect and absolute knowledge of all things, past, present, and future. If it makes things easier to picture in your mind, one could very well consider the Root to be God, except in this case God is a place instead of a person as He is so often portrayed. Reaching the Root is the ultimate goal of everyone in my world who calls themself a magus, and it is one that most magi will do literally anything in order to accomplish._

_'Of course, this was not the only wish that the Grail was capable of granting. With that much raw power contained in the vessel, one would have been able to wish for just about anything. The Einzberns wanted to use the Grail to regain an incredibly powerful type of magic that their family had possessed nearly a millennia ago known as Heaven's Feel, and the head of the Makiris wanted eternal youth and immortality for himself. However as the ritual was nearing completion, the three families discovered a troubling fact: the Holy Grail could only grant one wish at a time. And after the first wish, it would be another sixty years before it would have sufficient power to grant a second one. When the three families realized this, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they all quickly turned on one another in order to claim the wish for themselves. By the time the fighting was done, none of the Masters or their Servants had survived, and no one got the Grail._

_'Every sixty years since then, seven mages from across the globe are bestowed Command Seals by the Grail itself, with three of the Masters serving as representatives for each of the three families that originally designed the ritual. Each Master summons a Servant of their own, and then they all meet in the land where the ritual first took place, which is now a Japanese city called Fuyuki. There, the Servants, guided by their Masters, would battle one another to the death until only one is left to determine who is worthy to claim the Grail. And thus, my Master, the Holy Grail War was born.'_

'_I must say, that is quite an interesting story, Archer.'_ The heir to the House of Gremory commented. _'But I have to ask, how much do you think the Holy Grail War might have to do with us right now?'_

Archer shrugged. _'At the moment it's hard to say exactly. Like I mentioned before, I can't sense any kind of connection to the Grail, and having fought in a previous Grail War myself I could easily recognize it. So if you had some kind of wish that you wanted it to grant, I'm afraid it seems that you're out of luck. However, I can tell that there is definitely a support system in place, but I have no idea who or what's behind it. If I'd been summoned as Caster, I could probably tell you more, but alas that's not the case. Additionally, it would be safest to assume that six other people in this world have also received Command Seals just as you did, Master. And for all we know they've all summoned their Servants by now. We may not be fighting a Holy Grail War, Master, but some of the other Masters could very well be our enemies.'_

'_That sounds like a good assessment if I've ever heard one.' _Rias nodded in agreement before bringing up another point. _'Speaking of the other Servants, Archer, I was wondering if you could tell me more about them. I want to know what to expect should we encounter another Servant and it proves to be an enemy.'_

'_Adorable _and_ prudent. It seems like I've gotten myself a very good Master indeed.'_ Archer smirked. In spite of his sarcastic attitude though, Rias could tell that he approved of her desire to learn more about a potential threat. _'So, what do you remember me telling you about the other classes after you summoned me last night?'_

Rias thought back to her conversation with him the other night before answering. _'There was Archer, Saber, Rider, Lancer, Berserker, Caster, and… Assassin. You also mentioned that the Archer class specializes in long range combat as well as acting independently.'_

'_Very good, Master,'_ Archer smiled. _'I'm glad to see that you were paying attention. Now let's see… Saber is often the most sought-after Servant, as they are widely considered the strongest out of all the classes. They usually have high rankings for all of their stats, as well as strong Magic Resistance and even a Riding skill. Their Noble Phantasm almost always involves their sword in some way, but given the name of the class itself, that's no surprise.'_

Rias blinked. _'Noble Phantasm?'_ To which Archer responded by sighing.

'_Right. I'll explain later. Next we have Lancer. Stats-wise, this class is identical to Saber for the most part, except they have much greater Agility, and for some reason they also seem to always have an abysmal rating for Luck as well. They too have Magic Resistance as a Class Skill, but no Riding. Also like the Saber class, their Noble Phantasm is usually related to their weapon, however for Lancer it's obviously a pole-arm instead of a sword._

_'Up next we have Rider. Now with them it can be difficult to guess what their stats will be like without encountering them, but they will often have high ranked Agility, and they also have Magic Resistance and a more powerful Riding skill than the Saber class. Their Noble Phantasm will always be related in some way to their mount, which can range from an ordinary but famous horse, to some kind of Divine Beast, or maybe even a dragon. Their mount could even be some kind of mechanical contraption, like, for example, a ship._

_'Next we come to the Caster class, which has horrible physical stats, but their Mana will typically be ranked at A, if not higher, which they use to fuel a vast array of dangerous and powerful spells. They also possess the Class Skills of Item Construction and Territory Creation, both of which can be a nightmare to deal with if one isn't careful._

_'Now we come to Assassin. Like Caster, Assassin-class Servants often have terrible physical abilities, at least when compared to the other Servants, so they tend to be at a disadvantage in a straight-up fight. However they do have the unique skill of Presence Concealment. With this skill, Assassin-class Servants often target enemy Masters rather than the Servants themselves, and even when they do fight other Heroic Spirits they prefer to use ambushes. So understand, Master, that while the typical Assassin may not be that much of a threat to someone like me or any of the other Servants in a fair fight, this is a class specifically made for Heroic Spirits that like to fight dirty._

_'Finally we have Berserker. This class consists of Heroic Spirits that have gone berserk or even insane at some point in their lives. Their distinguishing feature is the Class Skill of Mad Enhancement, which sacrifices the Servant's sanity in exchange for greater power. This class was originally designed so that weak Heroic Spirits would have a fighting chance against the other Servants, but just imagine what would happen if a strong Heroic Spirit was summoned as Berserker.'_

Rias thought for a minute about a hero that would fit the criteria Archer was describing, until she remembered how in Heracles' legend the goddess Hera drove him insane and caused him to murder his own wife and children, which resulted in him having to go through the Twelve Labours as penance for his sins. The idea of a Heroic Spirit of that calibre being summoned as Berserker of all classes sent chills down her spine, and had she not been a Devil, she would have prayed to God right then and there that this wasn't the case. Even so, she could at least still hope that such a frightening combination would never come to pass.

Archer saw his Master's expression, and was able to take a general guess as to what she was thinking about. _'As you seemed to have guessed, Master, with the right Heroic Spirit Berserker is capable of matching or even surpassing Saber in physical might. However keep in mind that Berserker-class Servants often fight using only raw instinct, as they've lost the ability to think coherently. Nonetheless, their power in undeniable, which makes them the second contender for the title of "strongest class." Unlike Saber though, Berserker is not a highly sought-after Servant, as their insanity makes them extremely difficult to control, sometimes even with a Command Seal enforcing the Master's will. Additionally, Berserkers have a history of killing their Master, either by outright murdering them or using up so much prana in battle that it drains their unfortunate Master dry.'_

Rias frowned as she considered what Archer had told her about the different Servant classes. _'I have to say these other Servants sound like they will be very strong indeed. I can't say I relish the idea of having to fight any of them.'_

'_No need to fear, Master,'_ Archer assured her. _'You are the heir to the ancient House of Gremory, and younger sister of the Devil whose strength was so great that he was able to claim the legendary title of Lucifer, and you summoned me. Therefore I cannot be anything but the most powerful Servant of all.'_

Rias nearly snorted at his words. _'Hmph. Flatterer.' S_he did appreciate the compliment, though whether Archer was complimenting her or himself was a matter of debate. _'By the way, Archer, would you mind explaining that term you kept on using? "Noble Phantasm" I believe it was?'_

'_Of course,'_ the Servant of the Bow replied._ 'A Noble Phantasm, Master, can best be summarized as the manifestation of a Heroic Spirit's greatest legend. Whenever a Servant is summoned, each one possesses a single Noble Phantasm, which often takes the form of their most powerful attack or greatest strength. Also, if a Heroic Spirit can be summoned as multiple classes, their Noble Phantasm can vary depending on which class they were summoned as. For example, who's a famous swordsman that you can think of off the top of your head, Master?'_

Rias thought about it for a second before selecting one of the most famous swordsmen in history. _'King Arthur.'_ Taking Archer's words into consideration, she then took a guess at what the founder of Camelot's Noble Phantasm would be._ 'So then, if King Arthur was summoned as Saber, then his Noble Phantasm would probably be the sword Excalibur, right?'_

'_Right you are, Master, but remember that King Arthur was not just a swordsman in life. So while Saber would undoubtedly be the class that suites him the best, he could also be summoned as a number of other classes had another Heroic Spirit already taken that slot, and each one would probably have a completely different Noble Phantasm. If he were to manifest as Rider, his Noble Phantasm would most likely have something to do with his famous horse, Llamrei, or the spear Rhongomyniad if he was Lancer. In fact I'm pretty sure that the King of Knights could even be summoned as Assassin thanks to the part of his legend that involves the dagger Carnwennan.'_

That point raised another question for Rias. _'Archer, if I may, while I do respect your decision to keep your identity a secret, I find myself curious as to what other classes you can be summoned as.'_

Archer considered her words for a few seconds before nodding. _'I guess I can understand why you'd like to know that. Keep in mind though that the answer won't really affect our situation in the slightest, as there's no way for a Servant to change its class once it has been summoned. To answer your question though, to the best of my knowledge I can be summoned as any of the classes except for Rider, though Archer and Saber are the ones I'm most compatible with.'_

Rias blinked. Archer was capable of being summoned as any class except Rider? That was certainly a surprise, though if she was being completely honest with herself, she did find it a bit disconcerting that he qualified for Berserker. _'It sounds like you've lived quite an eventful life, Archer, having learned so many different ways to fight. I'm assuming then that your Noble Phantasm right now has something to with a bow? Or maybe perhaps your arrows themselves?'_

Archer was glad that he was in his spirit form, because while his Master could see him, he was obscured just enough that she couldn't make out certain things about his expression, namely the knowing smirk that his lips had once again shifted into. '_That is a reasonable assumption, Master, but one should never assume anything when it comes to Noble Phantasms, as they come in more shapes and varieties than I could ever describe. There is no guarantee that a Servant's Noble Phantasm will be their weapon, or even that they'll only have one.'_

That didn't make any sense to Rias. _'Hold on, didn't you say a little while ago that each Servant only has one Noble Phantasm?'_

Archer had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. _'Well, yes and no. You see Master, while every Servant does have only a single Noble Phantasm, it is entirely possible for a Noble Phantasm to consist of multiple Noble Phantasms.'_

'…_What?'_ Rias asked, more confused than ever. _'Archer, you're not making any sense. How could what you're describing – badly, might I add – even work?'_

The Heroic Spirit spent a few seconds pondering how to best explain the mechanics of Noble Phantasms, before remembering a couple of historical figures that would hopefully help to shed some light this particular topic for the young Devil. _'Master, I believe that the legend of the Norse hero Siegfried would help to clear this up. Are you familiar with his tale?'_

'_A little,'_ Rias answered. _'He's the warrior who slew the dragon Fafnir, right?'_

'_You are correct. He did this with the sword Gram – though in some versions of the tale it's named Balmung – and afterwards he bathed in the dragon's blood, an act that granted him a body that no weapon in the world could harm. Now, both Siegfried's sword and his invulnerability are famous and powerful enough that they are each a Noble Phantasm in their own right. But since they are both part of the same legend for the same hero, they are technically part of a set, and thus qualify as a single Noble Phantasm. Another example of how this could work can be found in the ancient monarch of Israel, King Solomon, who is considered by some to be the richest man in recorded history. If he were to be summoned as a Servant, his Noble Phantasm would probably be the vast treasure that he amassed during his life. And given just how rich King Solomon was, there's a good chance that some of the items in his treasury might actually be Noble Phantasms that he managed to collect.'_

'_I see,'_ Rias thought to both herself and her Servant. Yes, when explained like that, it would make sense for some Servants to have multiple Noble Phantasms, even though they were only supposed to have one. In fact, to put it in terms that Rias herself was more familiar with, Noble Phantasms could, in a lot of ways, be compared to certain types of Sacred Gears. The biggest difference between the two, however, was that instead of simply being born with or given the power, as was the case with Sacred Gears, a Noble Phantasm was something that was earned through a lifetime of battles and hardships, to the point where the wielder's deeds carved out a place in history for them. Like Archer himself had said, Noble Phantasms were legends made manifest.

Seeing that his Master was satisfied with what he had told her about the crystalized legends of ancient heroes becoming a Servant's most powerful ability, Archer shifted the topic back to one that his Master had inquired about earlier. _'Now Master, unless you have any other questions, I think it's time I finally answered your earlier questions regarding the mechanics of a Master-Servant relationship.'_

'_Huh? Oh, right.'_ Rias realized, remembering how Archer had started to explain that particular part, but then got sidetracked when she asked him to explain how the Holy Grail fit into this, as well as the other topics that had been previously discussed over the course of her English class.

'_Now, so far you've covered how you're able to go into a spiritual form and how we can use our pact to communicate, both of which you're doing right now, but what else are you able to do as a Servant?'_

'_Well by this point it's actually not so much what _I_ can do, but _you_ can do, Master.'_ At those words, Archer watched as Rias' eyebrows shot up in surprise, much to his secret amusement, which caused him to chuckle slightly. _'Come now Master, surely you didn't think that having a Servant simply meant bearing my Command Seals and supplying me with the prana I need to survive? If the system in place right now resembles the one used in the Grail War, then you will have gained a couple of new abilities of your own that will prove useful if we have to fight other Servants, the most important of which is easily Master's Clairvoyance.'_ When Rias inquired as to what that was, he began yet another explanation. _'Master's Clairvoyance is what we call a Master's ability to read and assess a Servant. You can practise on me right now; simply channel a bit of prana into your eyes, and then look at me as though you're trying to figure out just how strong I am.'_

Rias did as Archer advised, and was surprised when only a second later, all kinds of information regarding her Servant seemed to sprout inside her mind in the form of some sort of chart. She could see Archer's class, and what the ranks for all his basic parameters were and what they meant; that Archer was as strong as thirty men, and that he could briefly double his Strength when he went all out; that he had the Agility and Endurance of forty men; that his Mana was extraordinarily high; that he had terrible Luck. She also knew what kind of abilities his Class and Personal Skills granted him, and what their ranks were as well. However she didn't know what Archer's name or Noble Phantasm was, therefore both those slots remained blank, but Rias figured that if she ever found either of those out, that information would show up in the chart as well.

She only had a few seconds to process all this information before Archer's voice interrupted her thoughts. _'Well Master, did it work?'_

'_Yes it did, and I must say I am quite surprised as to how much information I am able to gain at just a glance. I also have to point out that your physical capabilities alone are very impressive.'_

The Heroic Spirit inclined his head slightly in response. _'I do appreciate your praise Master, but all the same I must ask you to save it until you see me in action. Regardless, it's good to see that you have that ability, as its strategic value cannot be overstated when used in a war between Servants.'_

'_I can see why,'_ Rias agreed. _'To be able to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a Servant with a mere glance will no doubt be of great use when formulating battle plans.'_

Archer nodded. _'Indeed. With Master's Clairvoyance, a Master can determine the basic parameters as well as the Personal Skills of any Servant on sight, which as you said forms the foundation of their strategies. A Master can also relay intel on enemy Servants to their own Servant, who in turn can use that information to try to determine the other Servant's class as well as which Heroic Spirit they are fighting against, and then exploit any weaknesses that they might have. Of course the flip side to this is that all Masters have this ability, so be careful to avoid revealing anything about me to your enemies, especially other Masters and Servants.'_

Rias gave Archer her word that she would guard his secrets with her life if need be, as the picture that he was painting became all too clear. After all, history was filled with mythical beings, both heroes and monsters, who at first seemed invincible, yet in the end had been brought low because someone had managed to discover and exploit the secret weakness that resulted in their mortality. When it came to heroes, one of the most well known examples of this was found in the legendary warrior Achilles, who was easily one of the most famous and powerful heroes in all of Greek mythology, if not the world. And yet for all his might… well, they didn't call a weakness an Achilles' heel for nothing…

'_So Archer,_ Rias continued, _'you said that being a Master granted me a few abilities, and so far we've only covered Master's Clairvoyance. What else is there?'_

'_Hmm, well this next one isn't really a new ability that you've gained because you're a Master now, but remember that in the end, all Servants are basically just extremely powerful familiars. Therefore, as is the case with any familiar, you can use our pact to send a small part of your soul into my body. Now since I'm a sapient being, you won't be able to take control of my body as you could with normal familiars, but you will be able to see and hear what I do, and you can even use Master's Clairvoyance through my eyes, allowing you to gain intel on enemy Servants, and whatever else I see that's worth noting without you being at risk. Keep in mind though that you can only do this when I'm in my physical form.'_

Rias' eyebrows shot up. _'Hold on, I can do that? But… I've never heard of a spell that does anything like that before...'_ she reluctantly admitted, embarrassed.

The Servant blinked. _'You haven't? That's strange. In my world it's considered to be a very basic spell for whenever a mage utilizes familiars or puppets.'_ Archer rested his hand on his chin as he mulled this over briefly before "speaking" to his Master again. _'I suppose we can chalk this up to a difference between worlds, but all the same I would prefer to rectify this problem as soon as possible. Luckily for us, it just so happens that I have C ranked Magecraft. While I may not be capable of doing anything all that amazing with it, at this rank it should be sufficient for at least teaching you some basic spells such as the one I just mentioned, as well as a few other types of magic that you might not be familiar with that may prove useful. Of course I can't guarantee that it will work, seeing that my magic can literally be considered otherworldly, and on top of that we're two completely different species, but it's worth a try at the very least.'_

'_Yes, please,'_ the crimson haired Devil agreed. She hated looking weak or unprepared in front of others, especially her own servants. If Archer was offering a way to address any sort of deficiency she might have, she'd accept it.

'_Now as for the last thing,'_ Archer informed his Master, _'to be honest, it really won't be of much use in any given situation, so if anything it's more accurate to describe it as a side effect of our pact.'_

'_How so?'_ Rias wondered.

'_The pact we share is one that connects the very cores of our magic itself right down to our souls, which also means we are closely tied together not only magically, but mentally as well. This… mental feedback, if you will, has been known to manifest in the form of both the Servant and Master having dreams of one another's past. Though it's worth noting that this phenomenon is far more common for Masters to experience, since Servants don't even need to sleep in the first place, but we can if we so choose.'_

Rias quickly went over the things that her Servant had just told her about; she could assess the strengths and weaknesses of any Servant she saw; she would be able to use Archer as her eyes and ears – literally – once he taught her the proper spells for such magic, and maybe even use it on her other familiar if she wanted to; she could eventually expect to be having dreams of Archer's past life, and he of hers.

The first one was both simple and invaluable when facing other Servants, and the second one would be useful once she got it figured out. However Rias wasn't entirely sure if she was prepared for what the third might entail. After all, while Archer seemed to have put his past behind him in favour of devoting himself to the role of being her Servant, Rias had gotten a good look at just how many scars he had on his upper body alone.

…And now it seemed that she would be getting a front row seat to the story behind every one of them in the near future.

Not wanting to continue down that line of thought, the Gremory focused on all the other things her Servant had just told her about; the origin of the Holy Grail War; the other Servant classes; Noble Phantasms; everything he'd explained over the course of her first class of the day. She frowned in consideration when she remembered that Archer had mentioned that a support system had been set up that closely resembled the one used in the Grail War. But by who? Aside from the Grail itself, so far it seemed that virtually every aspect of the Holy Grail War from Archer's world had been replicated flawlessly in this one. Who could have possibly done this? And more importantly, why?

Rias relayed these questions to her Servant, who had actually been asking himself the same questions since before the sun rose, but until now he had only been able to bounce ideas around inside his own head.

'_Unfortunately Master, as things stand right now we have no way of finding the answer as to how your Command Seals appeared, or why. It could be that someone wishes to create a ritual similar to the one used to make the Grail and requires the Servants' souls to serve as ingredients, or they desire to start a war and they want the Servants' power on their side when it begins.'_

Rias immediately shook her head. _'No, I highly doubt it's the second one. Before I summoned you, I had my father come to examine the Command Seals, as I didn't know of their purpose at the time, and my brother came with him. All they were able to tell was that the marks were meant to be involved in the process of contracting a familiar, but neither one seemed to have any idea what kind of familiar or how the Command Seals would be used in doing so.'_

'_I see,'_ Archer frowned in contemplation. If the forces of Hell were planning to rekindle the war against their ancient Heavenly enemies and wished to have the power of Heroic Spirits on their side, it was highly unlikely that they would allow one of their own Masters to be so unprepared, especially if said Master was as important of a political figure as his own Master seemed to be. _'In that case it seems that if someone is planning to start a war, then it most likely isn't Hell.'_ Or at least if Hell was planning such a thing, they hadn't factored Servants into the equation. _'However that doesn't negate the possibility of the second scenario, as there are numerous other powers to consider, and we've only crossed one off the suspect list. It could be that when our mysterious mastermind was preparing to disperse the Command Seals to the Masters that they'd chosen, something went wrong and one or even all the Command Seals went out and attached themselves to random individuals, you being one of them, Master.'_

Rias frowned as she considered her Servant's words. Ever since the Great War had ended, the three factions had been able to enjoy relative peace for the most part. Sure there were brief skirmishes almost every time the different factions encountered one another even to this day, but it was extremely rare for anyone of significant power or political importance to ever be involved in them, as no one wanted to reignite the war that had torn the very earth asunder. If someone was planning to do just that though, it would spell nothing less than worldwide disaster should they succeed. And if that same individual had even a single Servant on their side, let alone all seven, then the war could get very bad indeed to say the least. Heracles, King Arthur, Siegfried, Achilles… if even one of these legendary heroes were to be involved in such a war, their power could easily be the deciding factor for entire battles, if not the war itself. Rias had all the proof she needed for this just from looking at her own Servant; the Gremory heir didn't know who Archer was or what his full capabilities were, but she could already tell that his power was comparable to that of an Ultimate-Class Devil at the very least.

And somewhere out there in the world, there were as many as six other Servants running around, whose identities and Masters she knew nothing about.

As Rias worried over the possibilities, Archer saw fit to inform her of a third scenario. _'It could also be that someone has orchestrated events to have Servants summoned in this dimension simply because they thought it would be entertaining.'_

That sentence brought Rias' musings to a halt due to the sheer ridiculousness of it. _'Entertaining? Archer you're going to have to explain yourself there, seeing that I fail to see how anyone could ever find amusement in sending several legendary warriors bound as familiars into a world that, in one way or another, is almost always on the brink of a war that could very well mean the destruction of everything we all know.'_

The Servant shrugged. _'I never said I possessed such a twisted sense of humour, nor do I have even the slightest desire to associate myself with anyone who does, but even so it isn't unprecedented. In the world that I come from, there are a small group of beings known as the Dead Apostle Ancestors, and they are some of the most powerful beings on the planet. In fact they're powerful enough that they are each capable of going up against a Servant one on one and stand a reasonable chance of winning. Now, normally it is extremely frowned upon in their culture for one Ancestor to actually kill another, but this doesn't stop them from having their followers go to war against one another, even those they're allied with, simply for fun.'_

Rias frowned on reflex at Archer's words while her Servant continued. _'The purpose of that example, Master, is that it shows that when you've learnt a bit about creatures such as the Dead Apostle Ancestors, you eventually come to realize that when something becomes old and powerful enough, it sometimes develops an… unorthodox sense of humour to say the least. For all we know, such a being from your world or mine, or maybe even a completely separate plane of existence, suddenly decided that a good way to pass the time would be to send seven Servants into this world and just… see what happened.'_

'_Well… if that's the case, then I can't say I'm completely unhappy with their whim, seeing that I've got you, Archer, but I will admit that I find such an idea troubling nonetheless.' _The young Devil sighed. This was getting her nowhere; all she or Archer could do right now was speculate as to how exactly she had been able to summon him. _'For the time being though, we lack the means to draw any meaningful conclusions as to what's behind the system that's supporting your existence, as you yourself have already stated. Right now all we can do is continue on with our lives as we normally would until an opportunity presents itself, and act accordingly.'_

'_I couldn't have said it better myself, Master.'_ The Servant responded approvingly. _And with that in mind, I do believe that it is time for you to be off to your next class.'_

Taking a quick look at her surroundings, Rias was surprised to find out that the bell signalling the end if her first class had rung without her even noticing, and her classmates were all starting to clear out. Quickly grabbing her things and making a mental note to ask Akeno for her notes on the class that had just finished, the Gremory heiress made her way to her next lesson, followed closely by her invisible steel-eyed Servant.

* * *

The rest of the morning passed by uneventfully for the red haired Devil as she attended her classes diligently as she normally did. As the Master paid attention to her studies, Archer spent most of his time staring out the window, watching the flowers on the trees outside blow in the wind, seeing that the various teachers' lectures were of no interest to him, though he did listen to the Japanese History teacher's lesson about the Heian period.

As lunchtime came, Rias decided to eat on the school roof instead of in her homeroom as she usually did, the bento that Archer made for her that morning held delicately in her hands. Normally she wouldn't be eating alone like she was about to, but the breakfast she'd eaten this morning had shown her that the food Archer prepared was something to be feared. In fact if she didn't know better, she might even go so far as to say that Archer cooking was his Noble Phantasm. The heir to the House of Gremory simply couldn't allow anyone else to see her lose control over the savoury delight that was Archer's food and allow her reputation to be tarnished. And so it for that reason why she had decided to eat on the roof today, where hopefully she would have the privacy she desired that would ensure that in the event that she did somehow lose herself in her Servant's aromatic cuisine again, no one aside from Archer himself would notice.

Stepping onto the rooftop itself, Rias saw that luck was on her side today; no one else was here. With that concern no longer a factor, the redheaded Devil eagerly sat down, carefully placed her bento in her lap, and with no small amount of anticipation, cracked open the lid, finally releasing the wondrous aromas that had been sealed within.

* * *

Down in one of the classrooms on the first floor of Kuoh Academy, a beautiful young girl in her freshman year with white hair and two hairclips shaped like cats was taking dainty bites out of a large chocolate chip cookie, when suddenly she smelled something.

Immediately the girl ceased to care about anything, everything, and everyone that wasn't associated with that smell. She got up from her desk, letting the cookie, more than half of it still uneaten, fall to the floor and crumble into dozens of pieces. A few of her classmates called out to her, but since they had nothing to do with that smell, their voices didn't even factor into the girl's thought process as she resolutely made her way up the stairs, her entire being focused solely on _finding the source of that smell_.

* * *

Rias took in a deep breath as the scents of the different foodstuffs Archer had put into her lunch wash over her before she opened her eyes and beheld what he had prepared for her. There was hiyayakko – chilled tofu typically garnished with shaved flakes of bonito, green onions, and seasoned with soy sauce – yakitori – grilled pieces of chicken on a skewer and seasoned with salt or some kind of sauce – tempura shrimp, and of course, white rice with a few toppings to add some flavour.

Each of these food items were common enough that they could easily be found in any bento in the country, but Archer had somehow taken each one to a level where they wouldn't look out of place in the slightest if it were being served at a five star hotel.

As the thought of the tall, dark, and undeniably handsome Heroic Spirit crossed her mind, Rias Gremory found that she could only come to a single conclusion as she looked at the astounding meal he had made for her.

_I have the best Servant ever._

After putting her hands together and thanking Archer for the food, the beautiful Devil took a piece of tempura shrimp in her chopsticks before softly blowing on it, and finally taking a bite.

Instantly the taste of the food threatened to overwhelm her and tempt her into forgoing manners in favour of simply gorging herself, but this time Rias was prepared. With no small amount of effort, she resisted the desire to wolf down everything in front of her for five excruciatingly long seconds, and instead just enjoy the flavour what was already in her mouth.

Meanwhile, Archer just smirked as he watched.

However Rias found that her efforts did not go unrewarded, as she found herself actually able to savour what she was eating this time, and thus get the full experience out of every bite. She was aware of how the shrimp's flesh burst apart, releasing the juices sealed inside. She tasted the spices added to the tempura itself, enhancing the experience of every crunchy bite. And even after she swallowed, she took the time to appreciate the amazing aftertaste, something she hadn't done at all at breakfast. _Yes,_ Rias nodded to herself in satisfaction. _Cuisine such as this cannot be eaten carelessly._ She had made that mistake this morning and paid the price by missing out on the full experience that this gastronomy was able to bring to her tongue. Now she had learned her lesson, and through self-control was able to relish the entire palate.

Oh, and she got to preserve her dignity as well. That was also good.

Ready for the next bit of tempura shrimp, Rias, eyes still closed as she continued to savour the aftertaste, brought her chopsticks down to grab another piece.

…Only for them to collide with the bottom of the bento rather than the food she sought.

Eyes snapping open, Rias looked down at her bento and saw to her absolute horror that her bento was empty – as in, picked clean of every last tempura crumb, grain of rice, and drop of sauce.

_What? No!_ Rias began to panic. _Did I somehow eat it all without even noticing? This can't be! I only got to taste the first bite!_

But before she could delve deeper into that line of thought, the redhead became aware of a pair of thin, pale legs right in front of her, prompting the most popular girl in Kuoh Academy to raise her head and see a certain white-haired girl licking her fingertips clean, her expression one of absolute bliss.

"_Koneko_!"

* * *

**If exposition chapters aren't your thing, I do apologize. I'd originally meant to make it go on a bit further, but I honestly didn't expect that part to take up so much space, and I felt that you guys had waited too long as it was.**

**Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all for the next one. Please remember to follow, fav, and review!**

**Sincerely,**

**Paragon of Awesomeness**

**P.S. After some thinking, I've decided to keep Issei in the story after all. Don't worry, I promise that all of you will enjoy it immensely.**

**Now, for those of you who are interested, I've got yet another poll. But this one isn't asking you to pick who you think is the strongest character, but the dumbest one. Here are the candidates.**

**Michael J. Caboose from Red vs Blue**** – He almost fulfilled an alien prophecy that said the stupidest life form in the entire universe would bring about the destruction of an entire civilization, has been drinking gasoline for years simply because one of his teammates sarcastically called it lemonade once, and he has so many team kills to his name that Command put a shortcut into their system for reporting them.**

**Son Goku from Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged**** – This guy takes thinking with his stomach to a whole new level. He cares more about food than his own son "Get away from my food, me best friend, my two emergency foods, and my son! In that order!" he let Freeza reach full power because he promised Goku pizza if he did, and he also didn't drink medicine for a heart attack he got from eating too much bacon "because it was grape-flavoured."**

**Nappa from Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged**** – To his credit, he did go to college, but he also forgot that he can fly WHILE he was flying, he thinks that Chiaotzu is a Pokemon, in battle he lets his enemy have a turn to attack, and of course, "Are we there yet?" over and over and over and over again...**

**Monkey D. Luffy from None Piece**** – If you thought the Luffy from the official One Piece series was a moron, just wait until you see PurpleEyesWTF's version.**

**Mako Mankanshoku from Kill la Kill ****– I don't even know where to start with her.**

**Kenshi Masaki from Tenchi Muyo! War of Geminar/Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari/Saint Knight's Tale**** – In his evaluation, the Headmistress herself stated that he lacks basic reasoning skills, and you can get him to do just about anything just by asking, especially if you threaten his precious crystals.**

**Ichika Orimura from Infinite MENT (Infinite Stratos AbridgeMENT)**** – He would like to live in Kentucky just because he thinks the name sounds hilarious, and he openly admitted to being "retarded as f*ck."**

**Suzaku Kururugi from Code MENT**** – His I.Q. score is so low, he got acquitted from REGICIDE on account of mental retardation in BRITANNIA of all (fictional) countries, and he can survive on a diet that consists entirely of crayons and lighter fluid.**

**Gendo Ikari from EvAbridged ****– His top priority is always (and I do mean always) when he'll get his next sandwich, and he thinks that all Angels are Godzilla, when he doesn't even know what Godzilla actually is or looks like.**

**Rivalz Cardemonde from Code MENT – He doesn't know what porn is... and even Suzaku knows about that. Enough said.**

**Please vote for whomever you think is the most retarded, and check out all of the series mentioned above. Even if you haven't seen the shows that the parodies are based off of, they are all very enjoyable. Also, feel free to suggest your own candidates.**

**Now finally, my ideas for new stories. I'm just gonna give you a basic idea of what they'll be based on and around.**

**Fate/Stay Night + Akame Ga Kiru Crossover – As Archer fades away at the end of the Fifth Grail War, Illya can't stand the thought of him going back to being Alaya's slave, so she manifests the Dress of Heaven to send his soul into the cycle of reincarnation instead. Eventually, Archer is reborn in the world of Akame Ga Kiru. (Archer is not Tatsumi, in case you were wondering)**

**Fate/Stay Night + Monster Musume No Iru Nichijou/My Daily Life With a Monster Girl Crossover – Five years after the Holy Grail War, Shirou has come back to Fuyuki from the Clock Tower to spend a bit of time in his old home with the people he cares about. But Taiga doesn't want him to go away again so soon, so to keep him in Fuyuki she signs him up to be the host of an extraspecies person! (Seriously, why are there no Fate/Monster Musume crossovers yet?)**

**Fate/Stay Night + Tenchi Muyo! War of Geminar/Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari/Saint Knight's Tale Crossover – Instead of that happy go-lucky idiot Kenshi as the protagonist, we have EMIYA.**

**Please let me know if you're interested in any of these stories and want me to write them! Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3: Dinner Plans

**Hey guys! So… Yeah… It's been a while, hasn't it. I don't really have any good excuses, and if I did I doubt you'd even be interested. But regardless, I'm back, and I'm sure you'd all rather read this chapter anyway.**

**While we're on the subject though, can I just say how unbelievably flattered I am that this story has already received over a thousand Follows, almost as many Favourites, and nearly two hundred and fifty reviews?! Oh man, I have not given you guys even a tenth of what you deserve for supporting me like this…**

**Oh, also, regarding the results of the poll for who you thought was the most retarded…**

**In last place with seven votes: Kenchi Masaki from ****Tenchi Muyo! War of Geminar/Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari/Saint Knight's Tale**

**In ninth place with nine votes: Rivalz Cardemonde from Code MENT**

**Tied for eighth place with twelve votes each: Mako Mankanshouku from Kill la Kill, and whovever the individual voters thought was a bigger idiot than all the other contestants… even though no one ever actually suggested a new candidate**

**In seventh place with thirteen votes: Gendo Ikari from EvAbridged**

**In sixth place with twenty five votes: Nappa from Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged**

**In fifth place with twenty six votes: Ichika Orimura from Infinite MENT (Infinite Stratos AbridgeMENT)**

**In fourth place with thirty four votes: Monkey D. Luffy from None Piece**

**In third place with forty three votes: Son Goku from Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged**

**In second place with forty six votes: Suzaku Kururugi From Code MENT**

**And in first place with fifty nine votes, the biggest retard in fiction: … Michael J. Caboose from Red vs. Blue!**

"Hey, that's not very- What? I mean, yes! I win!"

**What the? Caboose? How did you get in here?**

"I used the door."

…**Not even gonna question that. Anyway, on with the third chapter!**

"Oh, can I do the thing where you claim… this?"

**You mean the disclaimer?**

"Yeah that."

**You know what, this might actually be kinda fun to watch. Go ahead.**

"Uh yes, well you see, uh, the words that are following me are… a story, yes… And they have fans that, have a base, kinda like me. Anyways, uh, there's a high school, and the only grades it gives out are D's. And it's owned by a bunch of people. There's also this hotel, yes… called Fate. And you can… stay there, and sleep over for the night! And it, is also owned, by a bunch of other people! Please support these small businesses."

**Good job Caboose.**

"Thank you."

**In all seriousness though, since we don't wanna get sued or for this story to be taken down, here's the real disclaimer.**

"Oh yeah, that would be bad."

**Indeed**

**The following is a fan-based story. High School DxD is owned by Fujimi Shobo, TNK, Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Funimation, Hiroji Mishima, Miyama-Zero, and Ichei Ishibumi, while Fate/Stay Night is owned by Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyopop, Hanabee, Aniplex of America, MVM Films, Ufotable, and Type-Moon. Please support the official release.**

"Now on, with the story!"

**Thank you Caboose, and it's been a pleasure having you here. But now I think it's time for you to back home to your friends.**

"Okay yeah that makes sense! Goodbye new best friend!"

**Chapter 3: Dinner Plans**

"Koneko," Rias said warningly as she watched her Rook come down from her taste bud overdose, the younger girl taking on a startled and somewhat ashamed expression as she realized what she'd done. "Archer worked hard to make me that lunch, and I was looking forward to eating it very much! Why would you steal it from me like that?"

"…It was good?" the white-haired Devil offered. Though apparently these words were addressed mostly to herself, because a second later she nodded in affirmation and looked back at her King with a face that was suddenly a lot less repentant than it had been a few seconds ago. "It was very good." And then in what seemed like an afterthought, the Rook gave Rias a small polite bow. "Thank you Buchou."

Eyebrows twitching in utter disbelief at what her own Rook was doing right in front of her, the redhead gave up on lecturing Koneko and turned her ire on the next available target. "Archer, why didn't you stop her from taking my meal? There's no one else up here and I know you're fast enough. Or at the very least you could've warned me of what she was doing."

The Servant of the Bow manifested his physical form, startling Koneko with his sudden appearance, and was rubbing the back of his head while looking both amused and embarrassed.

"My apologies, Master. I recognized this girl from when I was summoned last night as one of your subordinate Devils, and I assumed that she had something to discuss with you. But by the time I realized what her true intentions were, she'd already eaten everything."

Rias sighed dejectedly at her Servant's sadly believable excuse before getting up. "Great. Now instead of enjoying an exquisite bento for lunch I have to go to the cafeteria."

"A moment before you go, Master." Archer interjected while approaching Koneko, who still seemed a little apprehensive around him. From the way her eyes flashed over to Rias worryingly, he guessed that she still remembered his comment about how some Servants could be prone to killing their own Masters.

"Koneko-san, was it?" the Servant asked, waiting until he received a nod. "Well, seeing that you enjoyed the lunch I made for my Master so much, I was wondering if you would be interested in having supper over at her house tonight. Of course, I'll be the one cooking."

At those words, Koneko's eyes lit up before glancing over at Rias' empty bento and then back to him, and enthusiastically nodding several times.

Archer smiled at the young girl's eagerness, though to Rias it looked more like a polite smirk, if anything. Then she paused to reflect on the fact that she'd never even thought it was possible to smirk politely until seeing her Servant do it just now, and then shook her head as Koneko departed before speaking to her Servant again.

"Not that I'm against the idea, but why are you inviting her for supper, Archer?"

"That little Devil's appetite reminds me of someone I knew when I was alive." the Heroic Spirit cryptically answered. "I saw the look in her eye when she ate your lunch, Master. So trust me when I say that she will do it again every time she gets the chance unless she's already occupied with eating a meal of her own that holds up to the same standards."

"I see; you're going to make her lunches from now on so that I can eat my own lunch." Rias realized. "But if that's your plan, why did you invite her over for supper? Couldn't you just make her a bento every day and let me give it to her?"

That earned her a laugh from the Servant. "Master, please, you saw how fast that little girl tore through your lunch. Well actually I suppose you didn't, but the point still stands. Plus she was clearly still hungry for more. I invited her to dinner so I can gauge how much food it takes to satisfy that little she-Devil, or at least keep her occupied long enough for you to eat your own meals in peace, Master."

The Gremory heiress took a couple seconds to consider this before agreeing in full and thanking the Servant for his consideration. As she descended the stairs leading to the roof and making her way to the cafeteria, Rias couldn't help but wonder if her Servant's plan to protect her lunch was his Eye of the Mind (True) skill in effect.

* * *

The little episode from lunch aside, the rest of the school day was completely ordinary for Rias, aside from the fact that a Heroic Spirit was lurking over her shoulder the entire time of course. But she suspected that this would quickly become the new norm for her.

As the dismissal bell signalled the end of classes for the day, Rias and Akeno were making their way through the second floor hallways toward the main staircase. Before they could begin their descent though, they spotted two well-known figures making their way towards them.

Sona Sitri, or as she was known in the human world, Sona Shitori; heir to the House of Sitri, and Kuoh Academy's student council president, which of course meant that to most of the students she was known simply as "Kaichou." She was accompanied by her Queen piece, Tsubaki Shinra; student council vice president, or "Fuku-Kaichou." The two of them were respectively the third and fourth most popular girls in the school, right behind Rias herself and her own Queen, Akeno Himejima.

As the other two Devils approached, Rias saw Archer dart in front of her protectively, ready to materialize at a moment's notice.

'_Calm down Archer,'_ Rias assured him. _'We have absolutely nothing to worry about from these two, in fact one of them is a good friend of mine.'_

'_Understood.' _the Servant replied, immediately relaxing his stance. The whole time, none of the other Devils gave any indication that they were at all aware of the Heroic Spirit's presence.

Telling Akeno to go on ahead to the clubroom without her, Rias continued making her way toward her childhood friend, who in turn gave Tsubaki similar instructions.

"Hello Sona," the redheaded Devil beamed. "It's been a few days since we last spoke."

"Indeed it has," the black-haired girl replied, her lips quirking up in a smile. "How have you been, Rias?"

"I'm doing quite well actually, thank you for asking." The more voluptuous of the two said as she brought her hand up and ran her fingers affectionately over the Command Seals engraved on it. "But I have to admit, ever since I summoned my new familiar last night, I've been feeling even better than I usually do."

"Is that so?" To her credit, Sona did an excellent job in keeping her features blank, but Rias knew her friend well enough that she could see a hint of jealousy in her eyes. "It must be quite the familiar then."

"Oh you have no idea." The Gremory smirked. "You should come by one of these days and see just how amazing he is for yourself."

"You think so?" the Sitri responded, her curiosity now piqued. "Well then, maybe I'll have to do just that. It'll have to wait though. Right now I'm a little preoccupied with introducing a new member of my peerage to how things work as a Devil, especially one bound in service to me."

Rias nodded "Ah yes, I heard something about the student council getting a new secretary. A second year boy if I'm not mistaken. Saji Genshirou-san?"

"Correct."

"Hmm," Rias tapped her chin. "As I recall, you've already used up most of your Evil Pieces… So then I take it you reincarnated him with a Pawn piece?"

"Close, but not quite," Sona explained, the beginnings of a smirk appearing on her face. "As it turns out, he actually required four pieces in order to be reborn as a Devil."

"Four?" At that, Rias had to raise her eyebrows. "Well that's certainly a surprise. I hope he proves to be a valuable member of your household, and I look forward to seeing what he can do."

"As do I, and thank you." the Sitri heiress nodded. "Who knows, maybe I'll bring him and the rest of my peerage along with me the next time I visit the Occult Research Club. I'll introduce him to everyone, and then you can take the opportunity to show us all your oh so amazing familiar."

"Sounds like a plan," Rias smiled. "Although when you do come by, there's a distinct possibility that an incredible familiar won't be the only thing I'll have to show off."

"Oh?" Sona raised an eyebrow. "You have your eye on a new recruit then?"

"I've happened to recently spot someone cute who seems to have some potential." The redhead answered coyly as she started to make her way down the stairs. "I'll let you know more if things work out. Until next time, Sona." And with that said, she waved goodbye to her friend.

'_For a simple conversation between two friends, that was rather interesting.'_ Archer remarked as he and his Master left the building.

'_Sona and I go way back,'_ Rias calmly explained. _'The two of us have been playmates for as long as either of us can remember. Over the years our friendship has evolved into a friendly rivalry of sorts. We're very competitive with one another over just about everything.'_

The bowman nodded understandingly. _'That certainly does explain a lot regarding the nature of your dialogue with that other Devil. Speaking of which, am I to assume that our priority in the near future will be the assessment and possible recruitment of that girl you mentioned at the end of your talk, Master?'_

'_A boy, actually.'_ Rias corrected. _'I do apologize for the confusion Archer, but I couldn't risk giving Sona too much information and letting her snatch him up for herself. She probably already suspects that my prospective new servant is a student here, and she would be correct. So even something as simple as Sona knowing his gender would do a lot to narrow down the suspect list for her.'_

'_I see that,'_ the Servant commented while taking a look at the surrounding students, specifically the disproportionate female to male ratio. _'I take it that this academy used to be an all-girls school?'_

'_Until a few years ago, yes. But enough of that for now,'_ the Master declared. _'It's time for my and Akeno's weekly chess match.'_

* * *

As she waited for her best friend to make her move, Rias took a moment to just relax and enjoy the aroma coming from the tea that Archer had kindly prepared for Akeno and herself before taking a sip.

The president of the ORC heard the door open, and looked over her shoulder to see her Knight, Kiba Yuuto walk in.

"Sorry I'm a little late everyone," the second-year smiled sheepishly. "Traffic was bad."

Rias felt the urge to sigh upon hearing his usual excuse, although to be fair it really wasn't his fault. Being the most handsome and charming boy in a school full of adolescent girls, her Knight was swarmed almost everywhere he went while at school, and sometimes out of it as well. To his credit, he never took advantage of their affections, and he even made sure not to hurt their feelings whenever he turned them down, but that didn't change the fact that it was a constant problem for him, and by extension, her.

Kiba made his way over to the two sofas where Koneko was already halfway through eating a large chocolate bar, and began doing his homework. Akeno moved her only remaining knight, and Rias wanted to roll her eyes at how obvious her friend's ploy was as she saw the trap that was being laid for her.

As she moved her own piece, placing Akeno in check, the heiress glanced at Archer, who was in his spirit form looking at something out the open window. He was too obscured for her to make out his expression, but judging from her Servant's posture, whatever had his attention was apparently interesting enough for him to be staring at it intently. That or he found it irritating enough to glare at it with obvious disapproval.

"What's got your attention, Archer?" Rias asked. Upon mentioning the invisible man, the other Devils in the room became interested and looked directly at him once he stepped away from the window and deeper into the room so that no human would see him as he went into his physical form.

"Nothing important, Master. Just what appears to be a perverted brat who got what was coming to him along with his two equally perverted friends."

Hearing this, Rias got up and looked out the window herself to see if the Heroic Spirit was referring to who she thought he was.

* * *

"Did you at least get to see any nip?" Motohama, a geeky-looking boy with glasses asked one of his friends as they all sat in a circle behind some bushes next to the old school building.

"No I didn't get to see any nip!" said friend snapped while nursing his most recent set of bruises that he'd earned from being caught peeking on the girls' kendo club while they were changing again. Though in all fairness, the other two were the ones actually guilty of that particular crime and not him (this time around) though not for lack of trying on his part. He was just the only member of the trio who wasn't able to get away quickly enough and thus was the one left behind holding the proverbial bag. "I was too busy getting my ass handed to me for looking through a tit hole I didn't even get to look… through…"

All three boys suddenly found themselves distracted by the sight of something crimson dancing in the wind above them, and gazed upward to see Rias Gremory herself looking down right at them.

As the most popular girl in Kuoh Academy stared at the three of _them_ with her mystical blue eyes, framed by her beautiful face with her uniform hugging that gorgeous body of her, all topped off by that tantalising blood red hair that went down to her hips, all three perverts had the same thought:

_I am so whacking off to that tonight._

The moment was broken as she disappeared back inside the building, leaving the boys' memory of the one and only Rias Gremory looking at them, as nothing more than just that.

"Did you _see_ that honey?" Matsuda, a boy who was nearly bald and had the look of a sportsman asked as he grinned at his two friends. "Her sugar has _gotta_ be sweet."

"True that. What is it about red hair?" Issei Hyoudou, the final member of the self-named "Unpopular Alliance" whispered dreamily. Little did he realize though, that while he and his friends were talking about Rias, she and her friends were also talking about him.

* * *

"Master, is there something about one of those boys that I might want to know?"

Rias turned toward her Servant, who was leaning his back against the wall with his arms crossed as he gave her a sidelong look. "Archer, I want you to take another look at that boy and tell me what you think. A good, close one this time."

"Which boy?"

"The one in the middle, with the bruises."

Giving his Master a nod, Archer dematerialized again and allowed himself to fall through the floor and then walk through the walls of the building to where the three boys were. Though not before taking the time to refill Rias' tea.

Smiling at her Servant's consideration, Rias allowed herself to enjoy another sip of the steaming beverage before returning her attention to her game with Akeno. After examining the board for a few seconds, she calmly moved one of her pawns forward one space.

"Checkmate."

Akeno blinked as it finally dawned on her how in trying to escape check while at the same time leading her opponent into a trap of her own, she'd really just set herself up for the killing blow. "Your trap was very easy to see through." the Gremory heiress informed her friend before she went back to her tea.

"I'm sorry," the Queen pouted as she picked up her own cup. "I did my best to make it a challenge for you."

"It's alright. I look forward to next time."

Whatever either of them had been planning to say next was interrupted as a man-sized cloud of shimmering blue mist signified a certain Heroic Spirit's return.

"Ah, Archer, back already? Excellent. So, was there anything you noticed about the boy that was particularly interesting?"

"I suspect you already know the answer to that question, Master." the Servant stated. "Who exactly is that boy?"

"In a minute, Archer," the Master replied. "First I want your impression on him."

"At first glance – and second and probably even third glance if I'm being completely honest – the boy seemed unremarkable in every sense of the word," the bowman answered. "But after several seconds of careful examination I was able to sense a power sleeping inside of him. I couldn't tell what it was or even how strong it might be; it's obviously been dormant for a very long time, and on top of that the boy has absolutely no magical ability to speak of. That being said, whatever's inside of him definitely isn't something to be taken lightly. Honestly though, Master, if you hadn't directly told me to take a closer look at him, I doubt I would have ever noticed it."

"That's more or less the same thing I found after my own inspection of him," Rias murmured. "There can be no doubt about it then; that boy has a Sacred Gear."

Archer took a quick look around at the rest of the room's occupants, and saw from everyone else's expression that the general consensus was that their next course of action had just been decided.

"Perhaps a brief explanation is in order," he interjected. "I for one have no idea what a Sacred Gear is."

"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry, I can't believe I forgot you're originally from another world." Rias laughed. "Sacred Gears are… well to put it plainly, they're legendary artefacts and powers that grant the wielder abilities that are often both unique and formidable. They were originally constructed by God in order to give humans a fighting chance for survival in a harsh and hostile world overflowing with beings far more powerful than they could ever hope to become on their own, but ever since the Great War ended and all three races started recruiting humans into their ranks, the vast majority of Sacred Gear users alive today belong to one of the three factions."

"And you're telling me that that kid down there has one of these Sacred Gears…" Archer frowned. "How the hell did a brat like him get his hands on something like that?"

Akeno took the opportunity to jump into the conversation. "He was probably born with it. When the wielder of a Sacred Gear dies – assuming that whoever kills them doesn't steal it – their Sacred Gear will undergo a sort of reincarnation, and it's then placed inside another human before they're even born." The black haired beauty then had to pause in consideration. "…Or at least, someone who has at least one human parent. There's been quite a few cases where the bearer has been a hybrid of some kind," she added.

"Anyway," the Queen continued, "the important thing is that Sacred Gears can only be reincarnated in people that are at least half human. And it doesn't always happen right away either. It can range from a few weeks, to months, years, or even centuries before the same Sacred Gear shows up again in a new host, and even then it's user might go their entire life without ever realizing what they have inside of them. Granted that doesn't happen very often, but it can."

"I see. Thank you for clarifying that for me, Master, Himejima-san." Archer nodded to each of them respectively in gratitude, with the latter smiling and telling him to just call her Akeno. "But that still doesn't fully explain how that kid down there has one," he pointed out. "Tell me, what kind of selection process do Sacred Gears use when choosing their host?"

"As far as I know, there is none," Rias answered truthfully with a shake of her head. "Aside from the fact that the majority of hosts grow up to become an important figure in their society or even history itself, there's rarely any kind of discernable pattern between one wielder and the next when it comes to these treasures. By all accounts, the only necessary qualification to be born with a Sacred Gear, _any_ Sacred Gear, is the one about the wielder being human enough. Besides that, the process is seemingly random."

Archer had to sigh upon hearing that. "Alright, then enough about these Sacred Gears. What about the boy himself? What can you tell me about him?"

Akeno tapped her chin. "Hmm, well, his name's Issei Hyoudou, and he's in class 2–B. He lives with his mother and father, no siblings, in fact I don't think he has any other family anywhere in the city."

Koneko chose that moment to take a break from her snack and say her piece regarding the boy in question. "He's also a giant pervert." she muttered venomously.

Akeno held a hand over her lips. "Ara ara, such hostility, Koneko-chan." the Queen giggled. "It's true though, Hyoudou-san and his two friends are hated by nearly the entire female population of this school, along with most of the teachers as well as quite a few of the boys. They have their own name for their little group, but I forget what it is. To the rest of the school though, they're known as the Perverted Trio. In fact, those boys actually managed to earn themselves thirty detentions each within the first thirty days of being enrolled at this school!"

By this point, Archer's expression was a perfect mixture of bewilderment and disgust.

Rias then spoke up, suddenly behind her desk and wearing a rather fashionable pair of glasses, visibly listing off the three perverts with her fingers. "Motohama Nakajima, AKA 'Perverted Glasses,' AKA 'Three Size Scouter.' He allegedly has the ability to calculate any woman's body measurements simply by looking at them. Apparently he used to be a straight A student, but ever since he, for lack of a better term, awakened his inner pervert, his grades have slipped a bit, most likely because he has chosen to devote the time he used to spend studying to doing devious things like peeping on girls and watching porn. It should be noted though, that in spite of this his grades never fall below B, with the exception of Physical Education. Rumour has it that Nakajima-san's change in lifestyle began right around the time he became friends with Hyoudou-san.

"Next is Matsuda Ogawa, AKA 'Perverted Baldy,' AKA 'Sexual Harassment Paparazzi.' In his middle school, he was by far the best player of several of his school's sports teams, and he even helped win the middle school boys' nationals for both basketball and football. But shortly before the end of his final year, he suddenly gave up sports and joined the photo club, which he used to develop his 'skills' for taking erotic photographs of women, mainly his female classmates. Just like with Nakajima-san, Ogawa-san took up his new hobby shortly after befriending Hyoudou-san.

Last but not least, is of course Issei Hyoudou himself. AKA 'Perverted Creep,' AKA 'Harem King Wannabe.' Throughout his life his grades have been mostly average at best, and he has no exceptional talents worth noting, unless of course you count his sheer persistence when it comes to anything involving women, especially naked ones. And according to some gossip I picked up from girls unfortunate enough to have overheard some of his conversations with his two friends, he has an unusual passion for large breasts, even for a teenage boy, and his greatest dream in life is to one day obtain his own harem."

Archer looked at his Master. "_This_ is the boy you want to add to your peerage? Master, I find myself questioning your logic as to why you would ever want to recruit someone like this Issei Hyoudou."

Before responding to the Servant's protests, Rias removed her glasses and stood up, walking to the side of her desk so she could sit on the edge. "I understand your concerns, Archer-"

'_That's one word to describe my thoughts about this.'_

'_I heard that.'_ Rias replied, sending him a glare.

'_You were supposed to.'_

"…But the simple fact that he has a Sacred Gear, even one that has yet to be identified, means that our hands are tied on this one. If we don't take him for ourselves, someone else certainly will, and that's not something I'm willing to accept."

The Heroic Spirit sighed and leaned against the wall, arms crossed, realizing that the die had already been long cast. "You obviously have a better understanding of these Sacred Gears than I do. If you really think that the boy, or whatever power he has, is worth all this, then I'll follow your lead, Master." With that said, he stepped away from the wall and looked Rias in the eye. "Now then, what's our next move?"

"We're still figuring out the best way to approach him about joining us, so in the meantime we'll continue with simple observation. So to that end, Archer, I'd appreciate it if you would keep an eye on Hyoudou-san during your spare time."

"Sounds simple enough," the Servant shrugged. He then glanced to the side, where Koneko was now looking at him with a worried expression, and chuckled. "And don't worry, Toujou-san. I'll be sure to make it back to my Master's home in time to prepare dinner for the both of you."

Koneko's feature's relaxed and she gave the Heroic Spirit a satisfied nod, along with a "Come back safely." Promising he would, the bowman went into his spirit form as he began his latest mission.

* * *

Back at Rias' home, she and Koneko were both waiting for Archer to come back once he had finished observing Hyoudou. Koneko was watching TV in the living room, while Rias was currently treating herself to another shower. She'd already finished washing herself, so now she was free to simply relax and enjoy the feeling of the warm water cascading down her naked body…

'_Master,'_

The Gremory heiress stopped when she heard the voice of her Servant in her mind. _'Archer? What is it, did something happen?'_

'_More like something's happening right now. I was following the boy as he was on his way home, and now I'm watching what looks to be a young teenage girl making a romantic confession to him.'_

Rias blinked in surprise at what she'd just heard, but then stopped to think about the person who was telling her this. _'While I have to admit, that is somewhat interesting, I can't help but feel that there's more to it than that, Archer. If it was really as simple as you're making it sound, you would've just told me this when you got back, not while it's occurring.'_

'_You've known me less than a day, and you already think you've got me figured out?'_ the Servant chuckled, secretly impressed at his Master's observation skills._ 'Well, you're correct in this case. While I truly do find it bewildering that a pervert like this boy would ever get a romantic confession out of the blue like this – and judging from the look on his face, he's thinking the same thing – the really interesting part is the fact that the girl down there with him isn't human.'_

_That_ certainly got Rias' attention. _'Can you tell what she is?'_

'_Unfortunately, no. My life began well after the Age of Gods ended in my reality, so I am sadly inexperienced when it comes to many of the creatures that have long since departed from the world. Because of that, I can't tell exactly what that thing down there is so long as it's wearing that human disguise. However, I can tell you that the scent this girl gives off is similar to that of Akeno.'_

Rias froze as she instantly realized what it was her Servant was looking at. _'A Fallen Angel… that girl is a Fallen Angel. Archer, can you tell what she and Hyoudou-san are talking about?'_

'_Well, judging from the way the boy's jumping for joy and screaming "A date! A date!" I'm guessing that our Fallen friend just asked him out on a date.'_ he answered nonchalantly.

Rias 'hmm'-ed to herself as she thought over the possible implications of this before speaking to her Servant again. _'I'm guessing that she suspects Hyoudou of having a Sacred Gear, but she couldn't find out for sure from that brief exchange.'_

'_And so she asked the boy out on a date, thus giving her the perfect excuse to get close to him and find out at her leisure.'_ Archer finished. _'Of course that raises another question: what will the Fallen Angel do once she has her answer?'_

As Rias considered the possibilities, she felt herself becoming worried. _'The only reasons I can think of is that she either intends to turn him into a Fallen Angel, or kill him to prevent him from becoming a threat to her cause in the future.'_

Archer considered the two possibilities described to him by his Master. _'Hmm, if the former is her plan, and she manages to convince him, it could spell trouble for your own plans to obtain the boy's power. On the other hand, if she does intend to kill him, or convert him to her cause through nefarious means, it would be the perfect opportunity for us to take advantage of.'_

Rias felt a smile begin to take form. _'I take it you have an idea on how to do just that?'_

'_You could say that,'_ Archer replied. _'Throughout our day at your school, we encountered numerous Devils, yet it seemed that none of them were able to sense me in my spirit form,'_ Rias had to keep herself from giggling as she remembered Akeno's shocked expression when Archer appeared in the middle of the club room out of thin air before they began their match. _'And from the looks of things this Fallen Angel can't either. I was thinking that when the boy goes out on his date tomorrow, I'd shadow him and act as you deem necessary once the situation demands it.'_

Rias tapped her chin in consideration. _'This could be risky if she's trying to seduce him, but if that Fallen means to do him harm I can't think of a better way to convince him to join my Peerage.'_

'_Then we're agreed.' _Archer stated. _'In any event, it seems the boy is almost home. Shall I return?'_

'_Yes, please,'_ Rias answered, choosing that moment to turn off the shower and begin drying herself off._ 'And if it's not too much to ask, please come back quickly. Koneko was looking rather hungry last I saw her, and I can only hold her off with snacks for so long.'_ Plus Rias herself was getting hungry and was really looking forward to the meal Archer had promised to make. But her Servant didn't need to know such minor details.

'_Then I shall endeavour to be swifter than the wind itself.' _saidServant chuckled. _'I'll see you soon, Master.'_

* * *

Rias and Koneko both had to make a conscious effort to avoid drooling as they beheld the dinner selection that Archer had so generously prepared for them. As for Archer himself, he simply leaned back against the counter, arms crossed, wearing what Rias was starting to consider his signature smirk.

"Well, the food's not going to eat itself. Dig in ladies."

Snapping out of their stupor, both Devils quickly took a seat and began piling food on their plates. But as she was about to take a bite, Rias noticed that her Servant had yet to move from his spot at the counter.

"Archer, aren't you going to join us?"

"There's not really any point," he shrugged. "I may be able to eat and sleep if I feel like it, but as a Servant, prana is the only form of sustenance I truly require."

The heiress frowned at those words. "That may be, but I'd feel bad if you went through the trouble of making all this food for us and not be able to enjoy any of it for yourself."

Archer raised one of his eyebrows as he rested an elbow on the counter. "Master, seeing that you are the heiress to a prestigious family of Devils, I assume you've lived a rather affluent lifestyle. That being the case, did you feel bad every time you sat down to eat the meals your family's chefs prepared for you?"

"No," Rias admitted. "But the Gremory chefs made those meals for me because they were employed by my family and that was their job, not because they particularly wanted to."

"And I am your Servant, and my duty is to protect and care for you in whatever capacity I am capable of." Archer retorted. "And it just so happens that I am capable of providing you with high quality meals such as the one laid out before you."

Rias sighed. Why was Archer being so stubborn about this? "That may be, but I didn't know any of my family's chefs well enough that I wanted to sit down and enjoy a meal with them the same as I do with you. Besides, they were paid to do their job, but the only thing I'm giving you right now is prana, and you need that just to live!"

The red-haired Devil stopped as she realized she had stood up from her seat. It seemed she was becoming a bit too… passionate about this subject, and took a breath as she sat back down. "What I guess I'm trying to say, Archer, is that you are my Servant, not my slave. So I don't want you to only do what you have to do. Instead, I'd truly prefer it if you enjoyed your time in this world. So please, sit down and enjoy this meal with me and Koneko."

Archer was looking at his Master with a raised eyebrow. "Is that an order?"

"No, a request."

Rias then glanced at her Command Seals before looking back to her Servant. "When you told me what the Command Seals could do, I swore that I would never use them on you, Archer. Well right now I'm telling you that if I can help it, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, and I want you to enjoy yourself as long as you're my Servant."

As Rias finished, Archer's expression shifted into one of amusement, yet there also signs of a genuine smile on his face, with a little bit of that damn smirk of his mixed in.

"How am I supposed to say no to such an earnest face like that?" the hero said with mirth as he sat down next to his Master. And with that, everyone gave their thanks for the meal and dug in.

Dinner at Rias Gremory's house that night had been quite enjoyable, and not just because of the food. As the three of them ate, Rias and Archer explained a Servant's nature and typical capabilities to Koneko, along with a brief overview of the Holy Grail War. The two Devils also enlightened Archer a bit on some of the intricacies of Devil society, hierarchy, and the history of the Seventy-Two Pillars, such as how only thirty-three of them had been able to survive and maintain their status up to the present day.

And by the time Koneko had eaten her fill, Archer had calculated that she would need no less than four bento boxes – the extra large sized ones – every day to keep his Master's lunch safe.

"Well, that was certainly delicious." Rias smiled, wiping her mouth. "Thank you again for the meal Archer. Don't worry about the dishes; I'll take care of them. And Koneko, it's certainly been nice to have you over for dinner, but you should probably head home soon. It is getting late after all."

Koneko didn't get up though, instead she stared at the leftovers that she hadn't eaten yet, which Archer was currently putting away, then at the Servant himself.

"Buchou?"

The redhead looked back at her Rook as she piled the dirty dishes in the sink. "Hmm? What is it, Koneko?"

"I would like to live here from now on."

That statement caused Rias to blink, and she turned away from her task so she could give Koneko her undivided attention.

"I… don't exactly have a problem with you moving into my house, Koneko; it's certainly big enough. But this seems quite sudden. What brought this on?" Of course, Rias already suspected the reason; it had just taken over washing the dishes while she was busy dealing with her Rook.

"Archer's food is very good," Koneko replied. "I want to eat it every day for every meal."

Rias refrained from rolling her eyes at her youngest servant's reasoning, but she did not refrain from smiling. "I think that can be arranged. Assuming of course that Archer doesn't have a problem with that. Do you?" she asked, turning back to face her Servant.

"Of course not, Master," the tanned figure replied. "Though if I'm going to be preparing all of her meals from this point on, you may want to triple your food budget."

"Duly noted." Rias said. "And I just remembered something else that needs to be addressed. Archer, seeing that I obviously plan to keep you around for as long as I can, you're going to need an identity while we're in the human world. I can contact my family to make the necessary arrangements, but before I do that I was wondering if you had any preferences regarding your public identity."

The Servant shrugged. "So long as it isn't something stupid or some kind of inside joke, I'm not picky."

"Fair enough," the Master nodded. "Most of the students believe that I'm originally from northern Europe, so the story will be that after spending so much time abroad in Japan, my family is becoming concerned about my ability to look after myself and wish for me to come home, while I of course wish to continue my little vacation. So as a compromise, they've sent you, Archer, to be my live-in butler and caretaker since you've served my family for many years, and they trust you, plus there's also the fact that I like you."

"Sounds believable," Archer nodded. "And if your people are able to do all the forgeries and hypnoses that will be needed properly, it should even hold up under scrutiny. That being said, what's my new name going to be?"

Rias mulled that thought over a bit, but stopped when Koneko walked in front of her to place her plate on the stack that Archer was washing, and an idea struck her.

"We could say that you're Koneko's big brother!"

Both white haired figures sharply turned to face the redhead. "Say what now?" Archer frowned.

"Hear me out," Rias explained. "Koneko moving into my house is probably going to raise some questions if anyone at school notices, plus it just so happens that I also have a new butler in my home as well at the same time. But if people think the two of you are siblings, we could say that you wanted to be in the same house as your sister since you haven't seen her in awhile, but my family wanted you living with me. So, you brought your sister out of her old home and into mine, so that you can look after the both of us at the same time."

"Hmm," Archer folded one arm on the other and placed a hand underneath his chin. "It certainly would lend more credence to the story, and even accounts for the both of us showing up to live in your house at the same time. Plus Toujou-san and I share some physical traits. Though I think it would be more believable if the two of us were half-siblings, probably different mothers. Of course, this does also mean that your family will also have to alter some of young Toujou-san's documents as well."

"That won't be a problem." Rias assured him. "So, does this story work for everyone?"

"If you truly think me having a human identity to be necessary, then I see no problems with this arrangement." Archer stated before looking at the youngest person there. "Do you, Toujou-san?"

Koneko looked at the Heroic Spirit, then at her King, then at her own two feet. "I've never had a big brother before," she whispered before looking up at the hero. And while her expression remained the same as it usually did, there was hope that was ready to turn into happiness in her eyes.

"I think it would be nice."

"Alright then," Rias announced with a smile. "Among the supernatural you'll still be known as Archer of course, but from now on in public you'll be called… Kaname. Kaname Toujou. Yes, I like the way it sounds." she nodded in approval of her choice.

Though as the Master watched her Servant nod at his new name and smile encouragingly at the little Rook, Rias saw the flash of emotion in Archer's eyes, and knew that she had made a terrible mistake.

* * *

**There's Chapter 3! Please follow, favourite, and most of all, review!**

**Also you can be assured that wait for the next chapter will not be nearly as long as this one was.**

**Oh, and be sure to check out "At the Cusp of Valor" by ****Magna Est Vis Consuetudinis. One could say that it's kinda based off of this story in a lot of ways, but with two major differences (I'll let you figure out what they are if you have yet to read it). Links and references to "A Fake Familiar" are easy to spot, and honestly, some might even call it plagiarism. But the writing for this story is so fantastic, that it has my complete approval, and I look forward to seeing what Magna gives us all next.**

**Until next time!**


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